Actors - My Man Godfrey

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	Actors - My Man Godfrey

My Man Godfrey is a screwball comedy film released in 1936 by Universal Pictures. The film has since fallen into the public domain. In 1999, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The movie was adapted by Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch and Gregory LaCava (uncredited) from the novel 1101 Park Avenue by Hatch in which a socialite hires a derelict as her butler, only to fall in love with him, to his dismay. The film was directed by LaCava, and stars William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette, Mischa Auer and Alan Mowbray.

Plot

During the Great Depression, Godfrey "Smith" (William Powell) lives alongside other men down on their luck in the city dump. One day, snooty socialite Cornelia Bullock (Gail Patrick) offers him five dollars to be her "forgotten man" for a scavenger hunt. Annoyed, he backs her up until she falls on a pile of rubbish. She leaves in a fury, much to the glee of her sister Irene (Carole Lombard). After talking with her, Godfrey finds her to be kind, if a bit scatter-brained. He offers to go with Irene to help her beat Cornelia and "see just what a scavenger hunt looks like."

Pandemonium reigns in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Ritz Hotel. Irene's frog-voiced, long-suffering businessman father Alexander Bullock (Eugene Pallette) waits resignedly while his ditsy wife, Angelica Bullock (Alice Brady), and her mooching artist/protégé Carlo (Mischa Auer) play the game. Godfrey enters and is "authenticated" by the master of ceremonies. He then addresses the idle rich, showing his contempt for their antics. Irene is apologetic and offers him a job as the family butler. He gratefully accepts.

On his first morning, Godfrey is shown what to do by the sardonic, wise-cracking maid, Molly (Jean Dixon), the only servant who has managed to put up with the vagarities of the zany family. She warns him that he is the just the latest in a long line of butlers. Only slightly daunted, he proves to be surprisingly competent, although Cornelia lets him know she still holds a sizeable grudge: "When I get through with you, you'll go back to your packing case on the city dump and relish it." On the other hand, Irene is thrilled by the success of her protégé.

A complication arises when a guest, Tommy Gray (Alan Mowbray), greets him as a former classmate. Godfrey quickly ad-libs that he was Tommy's valet at school. Tommy plays along, mentioning Godfrey's non-existent Indian wife and five children. Dismayed, Irene impulsively announces her engagement to the surprised Charlie Van Rumple (Grady Sutton). But Irene soon breaks down in tears and flees after being politely congratulated by Godfrey.

The next day, over lunch at a restaurant, Tommy Gray is anxious to find out what one of the elite "Parkes of Boston" is doing as a servant to the Bullocks. Godfrey explains that a broken love affair had left him depressed and "pretty bitter". He considered killed himself, but the optimistic, undaunted attitude of the men living at the dump rekindled his spirit and will to live. Seeing Godrey talking to Tommy, the suspicious Cornelia tries to uncover his secret. Unsuccessful, she begins her campaign to make Godfrey's life miserable.

When everthing she tries fails, Cornelia sneaks into his room and plants her pearl necklace under his mattress. She then calls the police to report her "missing" jewelry. To Cornelia's surprise, the pearls do not turn up, even when she suggests they check Godfrey's bed. Realizing his daughter has orchestrated the whole thing, Mr. Bullock sees the police out and the incident is forgotten.

On a tour of the city dump, Tommy Gray and Godfrey walk into the shanty town: "The village of forgotten men." The aromatic stench is from "That's Old Man River - you get used to it after a while." Godfrey points out the ramshackle structure that was "the birthplace of a celebrated butler, Godfrey Smith....scattered to the wind." According to some of his old pals, the shacks are being moved because "the dump trucks are crowdin' in on us a little. We ought to be in the river by early spring." Godfrey heralds the values of the unemployed dump people who are more virtuous than the 'upper-crust' socialites. Off-screen, he describes his regenerative "plan" for the area.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for My Man Godfrey ]

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