Our review:Amazon.com essential video:Director Gregory La Cava deftly balances satire, romance, and social comment in this 1936 classic, which echoes Frank Capra in its Depression-era subtext. The Bullocks are a well-heeled, harebrained Manhattan family genetically engineered for screwball collisions: father Alexander (Eugene Pallette, of the foghorn voice and thick-knit eyebrows) is the breadwinner at wit's end, thanks to his spoiled daughters, the sultry Cornelia (Gail Patrick) and the sweet but scatterbrained Irene (a luminous Carole Lombard), his dizzy and doting wife, Angelica (Alice Brady), and her 'protégé,' Italian freeloader Carlo (Mischa Auer). When Irene wins a society scavenger hunt (and atypically trumps her scheming sister) by producing a 'lost man,' a seeming tramp named Godfrey (William Powell), all their lives are transformed. With the always suave, effortlessly funny Powell in the title role, this mystery man provides the film's conscience and its model of decency; the giddy, passionate Lombard holds out its model for triumphant love. In a movie riddled with memorable comic highlights, the real miracle is the unapologetic romanticism that prevails.
--Sam Sutherland
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Buyer Testimonials
Average Buyer's Review:
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The best "Godfrey" I've seen yet!
We all know the movie. Cute, funny, a comic morality play. But, the most important thing is the quality. This is the best version of both the color, and black & white that I've ever seen. A must have for that reason alone. And besides, it's a great movie!
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My man Godfrey
Product received in very good condition, most likely to purchase from this merchant again. thanks.
Buyer's review: -
great classic movie
A hilarious and enjoyable comedy from when hollywood was actually putting effort into making movies. have not watched the "color" edition. I didnt buy the movie for that extra perk and I'm really not interested in it
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My Man Godfrey 1936
This is a typical 1930's situation comedy, brilliantly remastered in B&W and possibly the best colorised version of a B&W movie that I can recall.I viewed it on my 127cm NEC plasma screen and was delighted with the colorised presentation. The acting by all the cast was tops. I have not seen Universal's 1958 version with David Niven and June Allyson to be able to compare the two. It is not yet available on DVD.
William Powell is a very polished actor with a very pronounced speaking voice. He is always a delight to watch, especially in Mr Roberts. Carole Lombard, his co-star, carries out her role admirably and together with the supporting cast make this a very memmorable movie.
Buyer's review: -
Ignore irrelevant reviews---get the glorious 2005 Legend restored version--perfect in B&W and great computer-advanced color too!
The "First Time In Color" cover of MY MAN GODFREY from the Legend company is the very BEST-----better than the Criterion version, believe it or not---in part, because on Legend you choose to watch color or black and white. In fact, the Legend version is just tremendous and even the color version is miles ahead of the old colorization processes of the 1980s. But you do not see this information ANYWHERE except at the very end because Amazon has loaded up all these ancient and out of date reviews of OTHER PRODUCTS---not the one listed and shown in the picture. It is terrible confusing. Luckily, I did order a copy of the Legend version with color and B&W and was thrilled, but you might never figure it out based on the utterly confusing mess of reviews of all sorts of different versions mushed together in the same place here.__________
I had seen this film at least twice over the years and thought it pretty good but came across this 2005 remastered version from LEGEND films. I was astonished. It is wonderfully crisp and fresh in it appearance and tripled my appreciation of it. Also, I am not one of those hidebound purists who think computer colorization is an absolute horror. Done well---and this one is done VERY well indeed--it can add a new freshness and insight to its watching. (Granted, it is not the same work of art of its original creators, but one can choose freely between the two versions, as it should be.) I found that by tweaking the color manually and altering the brightness and contrast slightly, with a hint greater saturation, one can get a superb if just slightly antiquey color. Not exactly full Technicolor (it never was--originally filmed in black and white) but a surprisingly great color experience. I can't believe people who whine about colorization. I am as big a film fan as they come, and know all about artistic integrity, but this is part of a living, usable past. (No, I don't add diet Coke to my pinot noir.) In any event, color or not, the film is a treasure and should be seen by everyone.