Directed by: Gregory La Cava

Starring: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette, Mischa Auer, Jean Dixon, Alan Mowbray

STORY

What happens when one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families hires a homeless man as their butler?

In My Man Godfrey, the answer is one of the smartest, funniest and most deliciously chaotic screwball comedies Hollywood ever made.

The madness begins during a society scavenger hunt when spoiled heiress Cornelia Bullock and her younger sister Irene descend upon a New York City dump searching for one of the items on their list — a “forgotten man.” There they encounter Godfrey, an intelligent, dignified man living among others who have been pushed aside during the Great Depression.

Cornelia treats Godfrey as though he is merely another object to be collected. Godfrey responds by depositing her rather unceremoniously into a pile of ashes.

Her sister Irene is different. Sweet, impulsive and spectacularly eccentric, Irene recognizes that Godfrey deserves to be treated like a human being. Godfrey agrees to accompany her to the scavenger hunt and helps her win the competition.

Delighted, Irene decides Godfrey should become the Bullock family's new butler.

Godfrey has absolutely no idea what he is getting himself into.

The Bullocks may have money, but sanity appears to be in considerably shorter supply. Irene falls hopelessly in love with Godfrey. Cornelia becomes determined to make his life miserable. Their mother Angelica enthusiastically supports her permanently freeloading protégé Carlo, who seems perfectly content to eat, lounge and perform bizarre impressions while contributing absolutely nothing to the household.

Presiding over all of them is Alexander Bullock, the increasingly exhausted patriarch who seems to be the only member of the family aware that money does not magically replenish itself.

And standing calmly in the middle of the hurricane is Godfrey.

But Godfrey isn't quite who the Bullocks think he is.

Behind the worn clothes and quiet dignity lies a surprising past — and when an old acquaintance recognizes him, the mysterious butler's carefully guarded history begins to emerge.

William Powell makes Godfrey intelligent, restrained, compassionate and wonderfully dry. Carole Lombard is his perfect opposite as Irene — an irresistible explosion of emotion who can move from heartbreak to ecstasy before anyone else in the room has figured out what happened.

Beneath all the glorious nonsense, My Man Godfrey has something surprisingly serious to say. Released while America was still living through the Great Depression, the movie takes aim at privilege, class, waste and the comfortable assumption that wealth somehow makes a person more important.

Godfrey understands something the Bullocks don't: fortunes can disappear.

Character matters considerably more.

Funny, sophisticated, romantic and wonderfully absurd, My Man Godfrey is screwball comedy at its very best — and proof that sometimes the sanest person in the mansion is the man everyone else believes they rescued.

AIN BACKSTAGE SECRETS & AINTOIDS
POWELL AND LOMBARD WERE REALLY MARRIED

William Powell and Carole Lombard weren't merely playing romantic opposites.

They were former husband and wife.

Powell and Lombard married in 1931 and divorced in 1933, several years before making My Man Godfrey. Unlike many Hollywood divorces, theirs remained remarkably friendly.

That history gives their onscreen relationship another fascinating layer. Their comic timing is effortless, and beneath all of Irene and Godfrey's romantic sparring is the chemistry of two performers who already knew each other extraordinarily well.

WILLIAM POWELL HELPED LOMBARD GET THE ROLE

Powell reportedly supported the casting of his former wife as Irene, recognizing that Lombard possessed exactly the comic gifts the role required.

It proved to be inspired casting.

Irene Bullock became one of Lombard's defining performances and helped cement her place among Hollywood's greatest screwball-comedy stars.

SIX OSCAR NOMINATIONS — AND A PIECE OF ACADEMY HISTORY

My Man Godfrey received six Academy Award nominations:

Best Actor — William Powell
Best Actress — Carole Lombard
Best Supporting Actor — Mischa Auer
Best Supporting Actress — Alice Brady
Best Director — Gregory La Cava
Best Screenplay — Morrie Ryskind and Eric Hatch

And yet it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.

It became the first film in Academy Awards history to receive nominations in all four acting categories.

Even more remarkable: despite those six nominations, the movie didn't win a single Oscar.

THE SUPPORTING ACTING CATEGORIES WERE BRAND NEW

The 1936 Academy Awards were the very first to include competitive awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

That means Mischa Auer and Alice Brady weren't simply nominated — they were among the first supporting performers ever recognized in those newly created Oscar categories.

FROM NOVEL TO SCREWBALL CLASSIC

The movie was based on Eric Hatch's novel 1101 Park Avenue, which had also appeared in serialized form before publication.

Hatch joined Morrie Ryskind in adapting the story for the screen, transforming the material into the rapid-fire mixture of romance, social satire and lunacy that became My Man Godfrey.

GREGORY LA CAVA LIKED SPONTANEITY

Director Gregory La Cava was known for an unusually loose approach to filmmaking.

Rather than treating every word and movement as untouchable, he encouraged actors to explore scenes, improvise and discover comic moments during production. That approach was particularly well suited to performers like Lombard and Powell.

The result is part of the movie's magic: despite its intricate comedy, much of My Man Godfrey feels wonderfully spontaneous.

LOMBARD'S IRENE IS CONTROLLED CHAOS

Irene Bullock could easily have become unbearable in the wrong hands.

Carole Lombard makes her irresistible.

She cries, schemes, pouts, celebrates, invents illnesses, throws herself dramatically across furniture and pursues Godfrey with absolutely no regard for his repeated attempts to explain that their relationship is impossible.

Yet Lombard keeps Irene vulnerable underneath the madness. We laugh at her behavior while somehow continuing to root for her.

That balancing act is a master class in screwball comedy.

“FORGOTTEN MEN” WERE VERY REAL

The opening sequence isn't simply a convenient comic setup.

During the Great Depression, “forgotten man” became a widely used expression describing Americans devastated by unemployment and poverty. The homeless encampment where Irene and Cornelia meet Godfrey reflects an economic reality contemporary audiences understood immediately.

That gives the movie's comedy a surprisingly sharp edge.

The Bullocks treat poverty as part of an amusing scavenger hunt.

Godfrey knows what it actually means.

AINTOID: GODFREY HAS A PLAN

Godfrey's story isn't simply about escaping poverty.

Once he regains his footing, he uses his opportunity to help the other men living at the dump by transforming the area into a nightclub and creating employment.

It is one of the film's most important ideas: Godfrey doesn't merely rescue himself.

He creates a way for others to rescue themselves too.

AINTOID: CARLO MAY BE THE WORLD'S WORST HOUSEGUEST

Mischa Auer nearly steals every scene he enters as Carlo, Mrs. Bullock's eccentric protégé.

Carlo eats.

Carlo lounges.

Carlo performs.

Carlo contributes essentially nothing.

And somehow Carlo continues living extremely comfortably at the Bullocks' expense.

Auer's gloriously ridiculous performance earned him that historic Best Supporting Actor nomination.

AINTOID: EUGENE PALLETTE — THE VOICE OF EXASPERATION

As Alexander Bullock, Eugene Pallette gets one of comedy's greatest assignments: being the relatively sane man surrounded by lunatics.

His unmistakably gravelly voice and permanently exhausted expression make him the perfect patriarch for the Bullock household.

Everyone else is having a wonderful time spending his money.

Alexander is the only one worried there may eventually be none left.

AINTOID: THE TITLE TELLS YOU EVERYTHING

For most of the movie, Godfrey spends his time insisting on boundaries between himself and Irene.

Irene has other plans.

To her, he isn't simply the butler.

He is my man Godfrey.

And once Irene Bullock decides something, resistance may not be completely impossible — but it is definitely exhausting.

DATE RELEASED

September 6, 1936