Notes on…

My Man Godfrey(1936)

Dir. Directed by Gregory La Cava

Just an FYI that there are several colourised versions on the streaming services (probably best avoided), as well as countless different restorations of the original black-and-white.

It’s screwball by way of Tolstoy, projecting dysfunctional family dynamics and self-consuming bourgeois idyll through the antic lens of farce.

Jake Cole (2018)

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Synopsis: Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.