Screening: My Man Godfrey (1936)

Sunday, 11/8
Movies on a Big Screen at The Guild Theater
2828 35th St, Sacramento
7:30 PM
Admission: $5.00

My Man Godfrey (1936)

One of the definitive screwball comedies of the 1930s, "My Man Godfrey" offers the radiant Carole Lombard in her definitive performance as flighty young heiress Irene Bullock, who on a society scavenger hunt stumbles on Godfrey (William Powell), an erudite hobo residing in the city dump. Godfrey becomes the family's butler, much to the dismay of Irene's father Alexander (Eugene Pallette), who thinks his household is crazy enough without another apparent lunatic under his roof. Halfway through the film, we discover that Godfrey isn't a penniless bum at all, but the scion of a wealthy Boston family. Having been burned by an unhappy romance, Godfrey dropped out of life, taking up residence in the dump. Here his faith in humanity was restored by his fellow indigents, who managed to survive and remain optimistic despite the worst deprivations. Meanwhile, however, he wants to straighten out the Bullock family, who he feels are a basically decent bunch beneath all their pretensions and eccentricities -- and along the way, of course, Irene determines that Godfrey will be her husband.

"My Man Godfrey" was nominated for 6 Academy Awards in 1936, including Best Director, and was the first film to be nominated in all four acting categories. It oddly was not nominated for Best Picture (which still puzzles people to this day), and even more strangely, failed to win any awards.