My Man Godfrey (1936)

This popular screwball theme was never more devastatingly realized than in My Man Godfrey’s opening sequence, which begins with a pair of spoiled society-brat sisters (Gail Patrick and Carole Lombard) show up at a city dump looking for a "forgotten man" — as part of a cocktail-party scavenger hunt!

What they find is a down-and-out derelict named Godfrey (William Powell), whose rumpled dignity, ironic cynicism, and self-aware mien seem hardly typical of his station in life. Finding one of the sisters less condescendingly offensive than the other, Godfrey accompanies her back to the party, and winds up guardedly accepting a role in their sibling rivalry by becoming her "protégé" and the family butler. Godfrey, naturally, has a secret, as does the family he works for: They’re completely daft.

My Man Godfrey is social satire at its broadest; unlike Sullivan’s Travels there is no nuance in the picture of the rich as less worthy than the poor. And, between the heroine’s relentless flightiness and the hero’s implacable self-possession, the romantic angle is less effective than in Bringing Up Baby or It Happened One Night. But for hilariously outrageous behavior and merciless satirical zaniness, My Man Godfrey is an unsurpassed comic treasure.