Naturally, there are several scenes of mistaken intent, a few nontragic plot turns, and a happy ending, despite brief periods of sorrow and hand-wringing. Yet the purpose of the film is undeniably the presentation of its musical numbers, several of which form part of the generic canon. Jerome Kern wrote the music, while Dorothy Fields provided most of the lyrics. Their combined efforts form the soundtracks foundation, although the sheer energy, verve, and happy distraction of Astaire and Rogers is what makes every number shine with the addition of movement and tap shoes.
Highlights include Luckys two solos in The Way You Look Tonight, a nightclub standard, and Never Gonna Dance, a sorrowfully ironic song given the actors well-recognized talent for walking on air. Two duets expand the big-screen canvas in Waltz in Swing Time with Astaire and Rogers and, of course, their famous performance of A Fine Romance. But the showstopper of the picture may well be Bojangles of Harlem. Here, Lucky begins his performance from within an accompanying chorus while dressed in blackface. Definitely a nod to his training and heritage, if also an antiquated, possibly offensive bit of cultural history, the number builds to a climax of Astaire dancing in triplicate with rear-projection versions of himself. GC-Q
See all movies from the 1930s
1930s
MY MAN GODFREY (1936)
U.S. (Universal) 94m BW
Director: Gregory La Cava
Producer: Gregory La Cava, Charles R. Rogers
Screenplay: Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind, from novel by Eric Hatch
Photography: Ted Tetzlaff
Music: Charles Previn, Rudy Schrager
Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Jean Dixon, Molly, Mischa Auer, Carlo, Robert Light, Pat Flaherty
Oscar nominations: Gregory La Cava (director), Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind (screenplay), William Powell (actor), Mischa Auer (actor in support role), Carole Lombard (actress), Alice Brady (actress in support role)
As one of the masters of sophisticated salon comedies, Gregory La Cava might not have had the most aching social consciousness in 1930s Hollywood. But he had a
knack for satire with a social and political edge that is clearly visible in films such as Gabriel over the White House (1933), She Married Her Boss (1935), and especially My Man Godfrey, his most memorable work. Made at the end of the Depression era, this screwball classic deals with poor bum Godfrey (William Powell) being hired as a butler as part of a high-society party game on Park Avenue. Some hundred snappy lines later he has taken complete control over the rich peoples house, charmed the beautiful Irene (Carole Lombard), exposed her birdbrained mothers boy toy (well, he is called protégé because of the Production Code) as a con man, and helped her grumpy father avoid bankruptcy and prison for fraud.
Not surprisingly, it is revealed that Godfrey himself had only been slumming as a hobo when the rich party found him, and so he can marry the socialite of his dreams. However, by then the upper class have been paraded in front of the camera as a bunch of narcissistic, infantile idiots. No doubt this was one reason for the films great success with a mass audience in those days. My Man Godfrey loses some of its bite in the second half, when the fairy-tale ingredient takes over and ends the film on a silly note: that money is not everything! But even then it manages to captivate its audience by the sheer intelligence of its witty screenplay penned by novelist Eric Hatch and Morrie Ryskind. It has the true mark of a great film by not having a single bad line or weak character. La Cavas pacing is sometimes strikingly fast, delivering machine-gun tongue dueling in virtually every scene and applying a narrative economy so effortless that the film could serve as a prototype for classic Hollywood cinema. Though it premiered nearly seventy years ago, My Man Godfrey still holds up in a remarkable way and could easily be remade for any audience. MT
See all movies from the 1930s
1930s
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936)
U.S. (Columbia) 115m BW
Director: Frank Capra
Producer: Frank Capra
Screenplay: Clarence Budington Kelland, Robert Riskin
Photography: Joseph Walker
Music: Howard Jackson
Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander, Douglass Dumbrille, Raymond Walburn, H.B. Warner, Ruth Donnelly, Walter Catlett, John Wray
Oscar: Frank Capra (director)
Oscar nominations: Frank Capra (best picture), Robert Riskin (screenplay), Gary Cooper (actor), John P. Livadary (sound)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is the film that invented the screwball comedy and solidified director Frank Capras vision of American life, with a support of small-town, traditional values against self-serving city sophistication.
Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) is a poet from rural Vermont whose life changes, and not for the better, when he suddenly inherits the estate of his multimillionaire uncle, whose New York lawyers (used to skimming funds for their own use) try to convince him to keep them on the payroll. But after several misadventures and a trip to Manhattan, Deeds is convinced that the money will do him no good and tries to give it away, intending to endow a rural commune for displaced farmers. The lawyers immediately take him to court, claiming he is insane, for no one in their right mind would give away so much money. Crucial to Deedss eventual deliverance is Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur), a wisecracking reporter who first exploits the hicks naïveté in order to write scathing exclusives about the Cinderella Man. Babe is transformed by Deedss idealism, however, and her testimony sways the court in the poor mans favor.