Syl I could see why this film is a comedy classic. William Powell played Godfrey, a Manhattan transient, who becomes a butler in an Upper East home. Carol Lombard is perfect in her role as one of the unmarried daughters. She and her sister have a scavenger hunt in New York City. Godfrey becomes more than just a butler but a member of the family. This ninety minutes film in black and white still holds up today for its sparkling dialogue and comedic humor of life in the upper classes during the Great Depression.

weezeralfalfa As the title suggests, this is a love story between a middle-aged aloof homeless man(Godfrey) living in a city dump and a carefree, impulsive, spoiled society girl(Irene Bullock): seemingly a most unlikely pairing, given their radically differing economic situations, ages, and personalities. But, it's also an examination of the relationship between the dispossessed unemployed and the wealthy, especially during a time of widespread unemployment. The Bullocks represent how the wealthy should not spend their time and money, while Godfrey, toward the end of the story, exemplifies. how this advantage might be usefully employed in helping the dispossessed get on their feet.It's clear that Irene was attracted to Godfrey from the time she met him in the dump during a scavenger hunt game. Although, on the surface, Godfrey maintained an aloof posture toward Irene's romantic overtures, Irene had the intuition that Godfrey had probably fallen into bad luck, and was not a hopeless derelict. Eventually , we discover why Godfrey landed in a dump and why he resisted Irene's throwing herself at him, indeed, the romantic overtures of any woman.It's of interest that Carol Lombard, who played Irene, and William Powell, who played Godfrey, had been married and divorced. Nonetheless, Powell insisted that Carol should play Irene.Cornilia: Irene's aloof sister, exhibits an antagonistic attitude toward Godfrey. It appears this is due to a combination of motivations:(1) assuming that homeless men must be hopeless derelicts, thieves, and possible murderers (2)a personal grudge against Godfrey for the way he treated her and spoke to her at the dump(3)jealousy that Irene had rescued a seemingly worthy man from a life of homelessness. In any case, her attitude soften toward the end, and she cried over his leaving the Bullock household. It's interesting that her aloof personality seemed much more suited to Godfrey's similar aloof personality than the impish, impulsive, Irene. But, sometimes opposites attract, in this case, each taking a big chance that the other would prove unsuitable as a mate in the long run.

Steven Torrey As a comedy from the era of the Great Depression, a bum found at the New York city dump, who had at one time been a man of means, becomes the butler of the filthy rich. The premise was made for comedy but William Powell (as Godfrey) and Carole Lombard (as Irene Bullock) gives the characters a human touch. When you look at Jimmy Steward in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", you never got past Steward as something like a cartoon character. With Powell, you see the human face of existence, the complexity of existence, at the whim of existence. Powell (as Godfrey) had been of means and gave up his fortune over the loss of a love, only to find himself by whimsical fate back in the lap of luxury all over again. And such is his disdain for this lap of luxury, he could end up in the dumps again.But there is more to the story than that. Each one of these actors knows by the standards of depression era society, they are the filthy rich, making phenomenal amounts of money they could never envision in their youth. Carole Lombard's salary was some $450,000 a year. That is filthy rich by any standard and certainly by the standard of the Great Depression. So these actors had a real sense of the whimsy of fate and how unequal and oftentimes unjust it can be.That Powell/Godfrey opens at the dump a fancy nightclub and names it "The Dump" suggests keen awareness of what this story is all about.Powell had the persona and acting skill to pull that sentience off on the screen as he recites lines written by Morrie Ryskind, lines based on a novel, "1101 Park Ave" by Eric Hatch. And these people/actors receive tons of money for essentially playing themselves. Such is fate.The film is great because of the ensemble cast, the talent of Powell and Lombard, and a topic about the whimsy of fate and how it can turn, and an expectation for a turn for the better by the end. While the ending may be hokum, it is delightful hokum. Powell gets the girl, and gets his wealth back.

Keith937 This movie has surprised me both times that I have seen it. It is by far my favorite movie that I have seen in my film class and one of my favorites in general. I loved the character interactions and personality's throughout the whole film. Godfrey himself was of course my favorite character in the film because of how funny he was and how many layers he has. In the beginning he just seems like a poor man found by a rich family but he ends up being the son from a rich family that wanted to live a humble life away from his family. This is a all around great movie that really doesn't have any problems that I can think of. I have always been a fan of romantic comedy and this one did not disappoint.