My Man Godfrey (1936)

I can't even remember when I first watched My Man Godfrey. I've been known to need a Carole Lombard fix from time to time, but this particular film, I feel like I've seen it all my life. That being said, it had been a while since I had last seen it. But it's always so much fun to watch Lombard onscreen! It saddens me that she wasn't able to have a longer career. But I digress. This film makes me giggle. And it's a different kind of funny then say Preston Sturges. I see this and it's all Lombard. William Powell is great in it, and both he and Lombard have just the right chemistry for this film, but if she weren't in the film, it just wouldn't be a classic.

The story is about completely ridiculous people and what's so great about it is that it fits so well today. I appreciated it pre-recession, but to watch it now is even better. The rich Bullock family is so careless about spending and utterly foolish, all the females for being so vapid and the head of the household for not being firm enough with them to stop them dead in their tracks. Godfrey comes in and things soon change. It has the typical characterizations of the rich being stupid and silly, while the poor and working class are the wise ones who have to do some teaching to the privileged. This makes it fun and appealing to the average audience and it's also a staple of the screwball comedy.

Where I saw the film change a bit from others in the genre is in the last act. Godfrey changes the Bullock family and schools them about their money-wasting ways, but in doing this, the film switches from comedy to drama. You do accept that this is happening because you're involved in the story, but it suddenly takes the funny and ridiculousness out of the film and brings it down to earth. Does it get preachy? Yeah, it does. But not in a bad way that you're rolling your eyes at Godfrey, and this is because he genuinely cares for the Bullocks and tells them so. He is humbled enough to tell each one what he's learned from them and how he's a better person for it. In turn, he changes the family in the process.

Thank goodness for Lombard, though, because she brings the screwy back into the film and ends it by telling Godfrey to hold still, "it'll all be over soon," just as they're about to get married, unbeknownst to him it was even gonna happen to begin with. Throughout this film, Lombard epitomizes the true and exact screwball heroine. There was no one and has never been another to beat her out of it. She doesn't just have great comedic timing, but she becomes the character, unabashedly. She acts like a spoiled brat of a child and does it so well, you completely buy it and laugh because Irene Bullock is ridiculous. But you can't help but love her.

As the other lead, Powell is great complement to Lombard. He flashes some great faces and at the same time keeps such a straight face in the midst of hilarity, you laugh along knowing inside he's probably dying to laugh as well. His Godfrey changes throughout the film, from an angry cynical man to one taking action and helping others in need. As for the supporting cast, they're all great, especially Jean Dixon as Molly's, the Bullocks' maid, and Alice Brady as Mrs Angelica Bullock.

There are some great lines throughout and some beautiful dresses worn by the Bullock females. Gregory La Cava puts together a lovely film, and even manages to preach a little without being too overbearing. And while it might not be the exact and perfect screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey is most definitely a worthy film of the genre, most notably for Lombard's performance, which cemented her as the screwball heroine.