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My Man Godfrey

1936 1h 35m
Comedy
MOVIEVIBE Rating
7.6/10
405 reviews
Your Rating
My Man Godfrey

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.

"Butler! FOR THE COCK-EYEDEST FAMILY in the WHOLE WORLD!...and the butler-blonde battle was on!"

Top Billed Cast

William Powell
William Powell
Godfrey
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Irene Bullock
Alice Brady
Alice Brady
Angelica Bullock
Gail Patrick
Gail Patrick
Cornelia Bullock
Eugene Pallette
Eugene Pallette
Alexander Bullock
Jean Dixon
Jean Dixon
Molly
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray
Tommy Gray
Mischa Auer
Mischa Auer
Carlo

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

B barrymost Verified TMDB Critic
2019-10-04

"Forgotten Man" meets flighty, rich heiress . . . and so begins one of classic cinema's funniest, most delightful, most intelligent comedies ever. William Powell as the hobo Godfrey hits all the right notes. Carole Lombard is terrific, if slightly over the top, as Irene Bullock, the "uptown girl looking for a downtown man."

What starts as an innocent city scavenger hunt becomes an unlikely romance when Irene Bullock brings home a gentlemanly bum named Godfrey and gets him hired as the new butler. Godfrey turns the household upside down (without really trying), much to the disapproval of Ire...

J John Chard Verified TMDB Critic
2020-04-26

I see a room full of empty headed nitwits!

If I was the sort of person who scrutinised every frame of my viewings looking for flaws, then I still wouldn't have issue here because My Man Godfrey has no cracks in its make up. It is perfect cinema from a golden age that we rarely see in this day and age. During a rich person's socialite scavenger hunt, air head Irene Bullock wins the contest to see who can find a forgotten man, a hobo, and showcase him at the toffs party. She falls for the charisma of down and out Godfrey Parke and gives him the job of Butler to the family Bullock. This of co...

P Peter McGinn Verified TMDB Critic
2020-08-22

I am not one of those people who say that they don’t make movies like they used to, or who watches a lot of classic black and white films. But there are a few dozen classics I would watch any time they come on, and this is one of them.

My Man Godfrey is in the sub genre of screwball comedy, and it may actually be true that they don’t make them like this any longer, because it seems like most of the wacky comedies nowadays center around bodily functions or shocking
language (though I guess you can argue it isn’t shocking anymore.)

Anyway, this movie had plenty of laughs, a nice st...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2025-06-30

Whilst much of the country is in the throes of poverty, the ditzy socialite “Irene” (Carole Lombard) finds herself down by the city dump whilst playing an up-market scavenger hunt and that’s where she encounters the down-and-out looking “Godfrey” (William Powell) who might just help her win her challenge. If he agrees to return with her to the sumptuous Waldorf hotel then he might end up with five whole dollars. Of course his arrival amidst such vacuous “nitwits” causes a mixture of shock and offence, but it does make her realise that she didn’t wish to be cruel, so she offers ...