Everyone has his or her favorite movie and I have mine – My Man Godfrey. It’s from way back in 1938, directed by Gregory La Cava, and is in beautiful black and white (though there are colorized versions out there). Since this is my first post here at Movie With Me, it seemed the best movie to start with.

I love screwball comedy, I love Carole Lombard and I love this movie, perhaps because both, the genre and the star, are at the top of their form. And let’s not forget the pitch perfect William Powell as Godfrey.

From what I gather, the very term “screwball comedy” comes from a performance by Carole Lombard, though there seems to be some confusion about whether it was a reference to her in My Man Godfrey or Nothing Sacred (1937). But someone, at one time, referred to a performance by her as “screwball” and the term stuck.

My Man Godfrey is a template for this kind of comedy.

Anything you could ever want to know about screwball is in this movie, beginning with Lombard’s performance as Irene Bullock, the quintessential ditsy, rich young woman, the heart and soul of this type of film. But perhaps the thing that puts Godfrey a cut above other movies is that they have not only constructed the perfect screwball comedy, they go a little beyond it with a compelling, if frenetic, romance and even social commentary.

The beautiful and the wealthy, dressed in tuxedos and gowns and all a bit “spiffed” (as Jimmy Stewart refers to it in Harvey), are amusing themselves with a scavenger hunt. The crowning achievement in the hunt is to return with a “lost man,” someone who is out-of-work and homeless due to the Depression.

One of the hunt’s parties, led by Irene’s sister Cornelia (Gail Patrick), comes across Godfrey. Unfortunately, Godfrey doesn’t receive her with the gratitude she expects. Rather, Godfrey is offended and angry at how callous and frivolous they are.

Then Irene comes along. She’s thrilled at her sister’s treatment and somewhat apologetic for how Godfrey has been treated. Godfrey sees Irene as not the sharpest knife in the drawer but more or less harmless. He sees how anxious she is to beat her sister in the hunt due and decides, why not? He’ll go with Irene and see just how frivolous and vain these rich people are.

He does, she wins, Godfrey gets to express his opinion of what kind of people the wealthy are and then … Then, Irene gets the idea of hiring Godfrey as the family butler. And he accepts!

From here on in it’s Godfrey, the one sane person in the film, and the wealthy, self-indulgent, and screwy Bullock family.

The movie excels with an extraordinary cast providing marvelous performances, including Eugene Pallette as the financially beset, ineffective patriarch of the house.

The house is like an insane asylum. But Godfrey’s presence has a calming influence, to a small degree, since he is the one voice of reason and understanding. With Godfrey around, everyone begins to become more grounded and, frankly, more human. They begin to lose their self-absorption and see the world, and people, around them.

But it isn’t only Godfrey who as an effect on others, and it isn’t only the family that is affected. Lombard’s Irene has an effect on Godfrey, seducing him with her madcap antics and her way of seeing the world. Reason alone isn’t exciting. Irene’s craziness is also vitality. Godfrey slowly falls in love.

All of this happens with a chaos of fast-paced dialogue and quick moving action. It’s a frenetic world Godfrey has entered and he is a fish out of water.

The pairing of Lombard and Powell is absolutely perfect. His droll, hang-dog look of seriousness against her constantly changing expressions of wild excitement and abject sorrow make a great contrast.

When I think of the age of this movie, I am amazed. It still does everything you could possibly want a film to do. It’s funny, exciting, and moving, and it does all this while remaining essentially simple.

If ever a film warranted the term classic, it’s My Man Godfrey. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen it. And no matter how many times I do, I always find it rewarding.

My favorite movie.