My Man Godfrey
1936  NR  COMEDY  1h 34min
CAST— William Powell, Carole Lombard, Gail Patrick, Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Mischa Auer, Franklin Pangborn
MUSIC— Charles Previn, Rudy Schrager  DIRECTOR— Gregory La Cava  BASED ON— 1101 Park Avenue (story), by Eric Hatch and Morrie Ryskind

     William Powell hands in another fine performance in this screwball classic. He plays a down-on-his-luck hobo (or “forgotten man”) who is offered a job to serve as butler for a slightly off-the-wall family. The two daughters in the family are polar opposites; the older a cold manipulator, her younger sister a chipper go-getter who happens to be in love with Powell. But he isn’t getting too close to anyone, for you see, Powell has a secret past unlike the average hobo. Besides Powell, Eugene Pallette, as the ever frazzled dad, is worth noticing in a cast worthy of praise. Deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.
OUR RATING— ** ½
REMADE AS— My Man Godfrey (1957)