Rhapsodies

For this week I turned to to some vintage Hollywood comedies.

I first heard of My Man Godfrey when Rhapsodies took it’s first step from the real world by making it the break out film of Zeppo Marx’s solo career having him take William Powell‘s place. I only chose it because it was released the year after Duck Soup.

In My Man Godfrey Carole Lombard plays a rich debutant who meets Godfrey, played by William Powell, a “forgotten man” in the middle of the depression, during a scavenger hunt. She hires him as her family’s butler and hilarity ensues. My Man Godfrey manages to balance slapstick with social commentary about class relations and the effects of the depression on the country including just how easy it was for the rich to lose it all.

Godfrey is debonair dignified and competent providing a wonderful contrast to the utterly insane household he finds himself working for. Even funnier is the wonderful crazy hyperactive performance Carole Lombard provides. But for all the slapstick it’s the more subtler humor I like, such as when both Lombard and her maid discover they are both in love with Godfrey.

I still find myself picturing Zeppo Marx kicking ass in the role.

I was planning to spend this review dedicated exclusively to screwball comedies but I realized after the fact that Sabrina, while certainly a romantic comedy, does not really fall into the definition of a screwball comedy. I have to say being a big fan of Billy Wilder‘s films that I had never gotten around to seeing Sabrina. It’s a sweet little romance involving Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden in a Love triangle between two millionaire brothers and the daughter of their chauffeur. It’s sweet and funny and I certainly enjoyed it, but…. this was not my favorite Wilder film, or Bogart film or Holden film having said that, it still had Holden and Bogart and it was done by Wilder. I think my problem was with that talent list I wanted more.

I think my biggest problem was the title character herself. Much as I could watch Audrey Hepburn all day I didn’t think they followed through with the girl who had vowed to take control of her life and seize opportunity. I was taken in when she gleefully trolls William Holden’s character after being gone for two years I was enjoying this mischeivous pixie but then all of a sudden she stops and becomes merely a prize for Holder and Bogart to compete over.

Make no mistake I thought it was great… but my enjoyment was hampered by knowing it could have been so much better.