1936 – William Powell
My Man Godfrey
I love William Powell, and not just because he was an incredibly handsome man. He had the acting talent to back up his looks. He was charming and likeable. He handled the fast paced dialogue with wit and what seemed like ease. He was captivating on the screen. And he created a character that just seemed like such a cool guy, a guy anybody would enjoy knowing.
And My Man Godfrey was a delightful movie. It, like Powell, or perhaps because of him, had wit and charm. Powell played the title character of Godfrey Park, a once spoiled son of a rich family who had been emotionally damaged, and who had become so depressed that he had turned to alcohol. His life and his emotional state had spiraled so dramatically that he ended up as a homeless man living in a garbage dump. And he blamed nobody but himself. But living in such low conditions taught him about himself and the man he had once been.
Powell had to believably start the film as a dirty vagabond, which I found fascinating. You see, I’ve only ever seen Powell play well-mannered, wealthy characters, such as Nick Charles in The Thin Man, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in the Great Ziegfeld, or Bill Chandler in Libeled Lady. Even in his last film in 1955, as he played Doc in Mr. Roberts, he had an air of class and sophistication. But in this opening scene, he showed a different side of himself. He was a little rougher, a little more cynical, a little more egregious. I’ve never seen him play the bad guy, but I bet he could do it marvelously. In fact by the time he starred in My Man Godfrey, he’d been appearing in films for about fourteen years, and had acted in nearly seventy films. That’s an average of about five movies a year, non-stop, for fourteen years.
But then after he takes the job of the butler for the Bullock family, he becomes that smart and sophisticated aristocrat, despite his position of service. Then Powell was in his element and his gracious charm began to shine. He was a true leading man. There was even a romantic element to the film, though it felt a little forced, especially considering the unsatisfying ending of the movie. But that wasn’t Powell’s fault, and he pulled it off with what seemed like ease and style.