Product Details

• Actors: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette
• Directors: Gregory La Cava
• Writers: Gregory La Cava, Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind, Robert Presnell Sr., Zoe Akins
• Producers: Gregory La Cava, Charles R. Rogers
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: July 31, 2001
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (253 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005EBSE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,042 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "My Man Godfrey (The Criterion Collection)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Product Description

The definitive screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey follows the madcap antics of a wealthy and eccentric family when they hire a down-and-out "forgotten man" as their butler. My Man Godfrey features brilliant performances by Carole Lombard and William Powell, and was the first film to receive Academy Award® nominations in all four acting categories.

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

154 of 159 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You Criterion! August 2, 2001

By Archmaker VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

At last, a good clean copy of this wonderful screwball romantic comedy! Much superior to the Hollywood Classics DVD which was washed-out and missing a key scene.

Well, this is just one of the best of the half-dozen or so top screwball comedies of the 30's. A dream cast plays it light and loose, with the real world of Depression-era America as a backdrop to a love story and a light lesson in responsibility, both to one's friends & family, to one's society, and to one's better nature.

And what a cast. William Powell is the epitome of debonair (what a quaint term: NO ONE is debonair anymore, alas)with one of the best comedic touches and timing in the business. Opposite Powell is Carole Lombard, young, adorable, beautiful and screwy and a perfect foil for Powell's smooth decorum. The supporting cast is first rate: Eugene Pallete the long-suffering businessman/husband; Gail Patrick, the beautiful but bitchy Cornelia; Mischa Auer's deadbeat Carlo; Alice Brady's clueless mother; Jean Dixon's wisecracking maid & Alan Mowbry as the rich & useless but decent Tommy Gray.

Enjoy comedy played by pros to a fare-thee-well. It's all attitude and delivery and body english and it is great! They can't make them like this anymore. Style and class.

The extras are quite good with a nice commentary track by Bob Gilpin and some hysterical outtakes (yes, they cussed back then too!). The print is pretty much clean and a vast improvement over previous editions.

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Which Version April 3, 2001

By R. Lichter

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

For those of you lucky enough to know, or who propose to get to know, this flick, you've come to the right place. Amazon sells two DVD versions of My Man Godfrey. I've seen both, as well as the VHS, and this one, the least expensive, from a company called Platinum, is by far the best quality. The other DVD, by Madacy Entertainment, is a fiasco based on a terrible print that happens to also be missing a crucial scene. Why Amazon continues to sell it, I don't know.

51 of 58 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT FILM, BUT HORRENDOUS TRANSFER TO DVD October 26, 1999

By Lawrence

"My Man Godfrey" is one of the best of the 1930's Screwball comedies, hence the high rating. It would have gotten five stars, but the DVD is taken from an incomplete dupe. The results are, to say the least, virtually unwatchable. Hope is on the horizon; Universal has struck new 35mm prints from the original negative, and it's playing right here in Philly. Hopefully, after the cinema reissue, Universal Studios wil finally do right by this movie and release a pristine DVD(and VHS for those who still only have that).