Film

My Man Godfrey

Name: My Man Godfrey
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1936
Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette

A homeless man gets hired as a butler on a bet, and proceeds to run rings around the spoiled Manhattan family paying his wages. William Powell is effortlessly dry, Carole Lombard is a delightful blur of chaos, and underneath the wit sits a real Depression-era sting about who gets called "forgotten." Fast, funny, and sneakily pointed — for anyone who likes their comedy with teeth.

TMDb rating

7.6

If you liked this

Bringing Up Baby1938

The high-water mark of screwball velocity — Hepburn and Grant colliding at full speed, with a leopard thrown in for good measure. If Godfrey's wit delighted you, this turns the dial to eleven.

But It rarely pauses for breath; the relentless pace can tip from exhilarating into exhausting.

The Awful Truth1937

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant sparring through a divorce with the same brittle sophistication and comic timing that makes the Bullock household sing.

But It's a two-hander romance rather than an ensemble farce, so you lose Godfrey's crowded, chaotic household feel.

It Happened One Night1934

The film that basically invented this genre's DNA — a rich woman and a working man thrown together, class walls crumbling scene by scene, with Capra's warmth underneath the jokes.

But More conventional romance, less absurdist family circus than Godfrey's household.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Trading Places1983

Same skeleton as Godfrey: a rich family's idle wager turns a poor man into an experiment, and he ends up exposing them instead. Trading Places just does it in cocaine and cigars instead of dinner jackets.

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd swap places on a rich man's cruel bet, exposing exactly how arbitrary class status really is — filthier, funnier in a rougher key, and unmistakably descended from Godfrey's own wager plot.

But Coarser, more overtly farcical, with 80s-comedy crudeness that the 1936 original never touches.

His Girl Friday1940

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell trading dialogue so fast you'll want subtitles just to keep up — the same crackling wit, aimed at newspapers instead of butlers.

But No class-inversion plot here; it's a newsroom farce with different targets entirely.

The Philadelphia Story1940

Old money, sharp tongues, and a trio of stars (Hepburn, Grant, Stewart) at their most luminous, skewering the idle rich with real affection underneath the barbs.

But Leans more into romantic triangle than social satire; less zany, more polished.

Twentieth Century1934no page yet

Carole Lombard again, unleashed opposite a scenery-devouring John Barrymore, in a train-bound showbiz farce with the same manic comic engine.

But Trades class commentary for backstage theatrical lunacy — a different flavor of chaos.

Holiday1938no page yet

Grant and Hepburn quietly dismantling the emptiness of inherited wealth, with the same underlying question Godfrey asks about what money is actually worth.

But Gentler and more sentimental — don't expect the same rowdy ensemble energy.

Nothing Sacred1937no page yet

Lombard again, this time skewering media phoniness with real teeth — a satire that shares Godfrey's suspicion of performed sincerity, just meaner about it.

But Colder and more cynical; it bites rather than charms.

Sullivan's Travels1941

Preston Sturges sends a pampered director out to experience real poverty, starting as comedy and ending somewhere far more serious — the same forgotten-man conscience Godfrey carries, pushed further.

But The tonal swerve into genuine hardship midway can catch you off guard if you came for pure comedy.

The Rules of the Game1939

Made three years after Godfrey, it's the same upstairs-downstairs satire of a decaying leisure class, but Renoir strips away the comfort of a happy ending and lets the rot show.

Renoir's masterpiece watches a French country house's masters and servants mirror each other's petty cruelties and desires, with the same sly eye for how the wealthy perform their own lives.

But Subtler and sadder than Godfrey — its satire curdles into something genuinely tragic by the end, in French with subtitles.

Roger & Me1989

Godfrey's "forgotten man" is a scavenger-hunt punchline hiding real Depression pain; this documentary drags that pain into the daylight with no comedy to soften it.

Michael Moore hunts down GM's CEO while Flint, Michigan falls apart around laid-off autoworkers — real forgotten men, filmed with fury instead of wit, but asking the same question about who society discards.

But There's no charm offensive here, no romance, no jokes that let you off the hook — it's angry and it means to be.