Even though the viewing of the movie was quite hard to sit through ( with the blurring of the screen and all), I found myself laughing at this fast paced screwball comedy. With the relationship between the butler and the rich woman, I found myself comparing it to Bringing
Up Baby. Katherine Hepburn's character
was probably just as insanely in love as Carole Lombard's character Irene, if not more, and both character's did everything in their power to make the leading man fall in love with them.
William Powell's performance was what helped made this film Oscar worthy. His comedic timing and pace helped to bring out my laughter. How he showed the many different sides to his character made him so interesting to watch, and want more of. His and Carole Lombard's witty banter back and forth helped to create that screwball comedy feeling and the audience wanting them to fall in love at the end. At least, I'm always the type to want those kinds of endings. Truly this movie would not have captured my interest if it wasn't for Powell's performance.
Although I am not really fond of the film a
s a whole, I did find certain aspects to be quite amusing. It did hold up to the title of being a true screwball comedy by having the wacky characters and even the quick witty dialogue that walked the line of the Hays Code turned it into a classic. Robert Sklar notes that "tight fast plots that leaped from improbability to incongruity to reassuring resolution" helped mold My Man Godfrey into a screwball comedy. This quick scenes really make a audiences not even manage to find the time to question the craziness of what just happened and is quickly lead into another scene that may be more outrageous then the last. Although this film dealt with more deep social issues, it ultimately succeeded in being a screwball comedy. Although I do recommend to anyone who would like to see a similar yet more enjoyable screwball to watch would be Arsenic and Old Lace. (Cary Grant makes me weak in the knees.) (Pictures both from Wikipedia)
This is nicely written!
ReplyDeleteVery lively, with good connections with other movies and sharp observations. I'd like to see the reading better integrated into your points about class consciousness vs comedy though. Also, I wish you'd said more about how this movie edges up to the Hays Code, as this is always a favorite topic of mine.