My Man Godfrey

Year: 1936

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: La Cava

Review

a mostly funny comedy from gregory la cava, who is starting to pique my interest. i’ve only seen this and “gabriel over the white house,” but i sense a pattern with la cava’s work. a man in a gutter (literally – as with this film, or morally – as with gabriel over the white house) who undergoes a transformation and turns things around in a rather inspirational way. the film, in the meantime, entertains us with comedy and social criticism. it sort of reminds of capra. i don’t want to call it a formula or anything, but the two films of his that i have seen have been pretty similar in their structure. in gabriel over the white house there was criticism of our political structure and in my man godfrey there is criticism of our social structure. it clearly mocks the idle rich and our social stratification by making the rich family who employ godfrey the butt of the majority of the jokes. i plan on buying the criterion edition of the dvd because this film is good.