The wonderfully elegant, screwball comedy My Man Godfrey was on television this afternoon, and it prompted me to post my favorite scene. Not just favorite in the movie, but one of my favorites in all movies. Terrific as the full sequence is here, the famous shower scene, that’s not my favorite, but rather the 30-seconds at the end of the clip. For me, the joy of it isn’t just that love what’s going on, but also how it’s impeccably filmed, framed in a doorway with William Powell in the foreground and Carole Lombard in the back. A very brief set-up: Carole Lombard, the goofy daughter of a very rich family has fallen in love with their new butler, the even-keeled and highly-capable butler Godfrey, played by William Powell, who has repeatedly fended off her declarations with with graceful, but direct rebuffing. The audience has previously learned that he comes from a well-to-do, old family himself but after his difficulties has found comfort in this work keeping the off-beat household in order. Lombard’s very spoiled sister, played by Gail Patrick, has always distrusted Godfrey and tried to get him fired – although Lombard is concerned that her sister wants to steal him away. The 1936 film got six Oscar nominations, including for William Powell (who I've come to the conclusion may well be my favorite actors) and Carole Lombard. The two had been married, but divorced in 1933 -- however, Powell only agreed to be in the movie if they cast Lombard. It's pretty clear why here. Sixty years later, in 1999, the movie was declared "culturally significant" and preserved by the National Film Registry. What's especially interesting about the movie is not just that it got made this well, but at all. Especially at Universal at that time. When I worked at the studio, I was the head P.R. writer, and had to write the history of the studio for it's 70th anniversary. And back in 1936, they largely made B-movies and horror films. To make such a classy comedy as My Man Godfrey -- and get six Oscar nominations -- was almost unheard of, a diamond in a mound of coal. Powell and Lombard weren't even contract players with the studio, but were lent out. But they studio made it...and did it ever pay off. All of which brings us to the sequence that, in turns, leads to my favorite 30-second scene in the doorway.
2 Comments
Douglass Abramson
1/26/2022 07:34:08 pm
I am generally in favor of at least giving a remake a chance to succeed or fail on its own; and my bar is fairly low, as long as the director has a different take on the material, without making a bad film or even better remakes a bad film into a good one, a score it a win for the film...but how many martinis were consumed at lunch the day it was decided that a remake with David Niven and June Allyson would hold up against the original with Powell and Lombard? Niven (who I usually enjoy, he makes the original Pink Panther, not Sellers) maybe with a good enough script, director and supporting cast could have been adequate, none of which the 1957 version had; but June Allyson, as lovely and talented as she was, wasn't in the same Zip Code as Lombard. The end result is that a lot of people worked very hard on a film that most people don't even know exists. THAT'S how good the movie you're talking about is.
Reply
Robert Elisberg
1/26/2022 09:38:59 pm
I like David Niven very much. And I can see him good in the role. (Oddly, he played the good friend of Godfrey in a Lux Theater radio dramatization a few years later with William Powell and Carole Lombard recreating their roles...) But I have had zero interest in seeing the movie remake. So, I'll have to take your word (all of which makes sense) on it.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|