Henry Koster’s 1957 remake of My Man Godfrey is somewhat sterile and superficial losing much of the screwball element and the satirical tartness of the 1936 original.
The Production: 2.5/5
In the mid-1950s, June Allyson became the unofficial “queen of the remakes” undertaking new versions of three Hollywood classics from the 1930s: The Women (musicalized as The Opposite Sex), It Happened One Night (musicalized as You Can’t Run Away from It), and My Man Godfrey, the archetypal screwball comedy from 1936 starring Carole Lombard and William Powell. Henry Koster’s 1957 remake of the latter film features Allyson and David Niven in the starring roles, but what was warmly comical farce in the Depression-era 1930s is rather synthetic and sterile transported to the 1950s. And there are no romantic sparks between the two leads (though they were great friends in real life), death to what wants to be a romantic comedy.
On a scavenger hunt for charity, Irene Bullock (June Allyson) stumbles across a seemingly homeless immigrant calling himself Godfrey (David Niven) at the docks. She claims him as part of her hunt and takes him home, later offering him the job as the wealthy family’s butler since their last one had just resigned. The Bullocks are quite the dysfunctional family with a father (Robert Keith) teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, a ditzy mother (Jessie Royce Landis) who’s mentoring a spoiled loafer (Jay Robinson) in his music career, and Irene’s vindictive and spiteful sister (Martha Hyer) who is suspicious of Godfrey and is willing to do anything to thwart Irene’s plans for Godfrey, especially once she realizes that Irene has fallen in love with him.
The Everett Freeman-Peter Bermeis-William Bowers screenplay is based on the script for the 1936 version of Eric Hatch’s original story written by the author and screenwriter Morrie Ryskind. The Depression-era desperation is completely missing from this modern version losing the vital contrast between the spoiled rotten and self-contained and wasteful Bullocks with the outside world who are scrambling to keep body and soul together (the potential for the Bullocks to lose everything is mentioned and then over almost within the next scene blunting the emotional relief the audience should feel when Godfrey works one of his miracles). As in the original story, Godfrey works his magic on each member of the Bullock clan, but the resolutions for each of them only offer momentary relief and don’t plumb the depths of sentimentality and warmth as in the 1936 version. Four years into the Cinemascope craze, director Henry Koster once again shows his mastery of the wide frame exceptionally staging action in two important scenes (in a detective interrogation scene over a missing bracelet and a climactic dinner with the family) from left to right with balanced clumps of characters occupying the entire width of the screen. The comedy mise-en-scène, though, is muted here compared to Gregory La Cava’s original direction.
June Allyson seems a bit old for the younger sister character and spends quite a bit of time on the brink of tears madly dashing out of rooms when she doesn’t get her way. David Niven wasn’t the original choice for the title character; O.W. Fischer’s ego ran headlong into the director with dire results for Fischer, but perhaps the chemistry might have been more electric with Allyson than that which she and David Niven lack. At any rate, the love story at the core of the tale just seems superficial. Expert scene stealer Jessie Royce Landis does it again with her dotty matriarch while Robert Keith is solid and professional as the put-upon father. Jay Robinson milks a couple of scenes as the freeloader (a running gag with the family bloodhound baying at his singing does elicit a belly laugh). Martha Hyer has the mean-spirited sister down pat while Jeff Donnell offers snickers and sage wisdom as down-to-earth maid Molly. Eva Gabor has a nice couple of scenes as a former lady friend of Godfrey’s, and Richard Deacon has a side-splitting cameo as the new butler who doesn’t suffer fools.
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
The film’s Cinemascope theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 is faithfully rendered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. This new high definition master does offer improved clarity and Pathé color from previous incarnations of the movie on home video, but Universal engineers have left assorted bits of dust and debris here and there lessening the impact of the image somewhat. Still, it’s sharp and clear enough to notice the studio waterfront sets and artificial backdrops and the obvious stunt doubles for Allyson and Hyer when they have a sisterly brawl. The movie has been divided into 8 chapters.
Audio: 4.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix does everything right without being quite as exemplary as other recent audio transfers from 1950s films. Dialogue is always easy to understand, and the Frank Skinner background score and the various sound effects have been combined professionally into a single track. There are no obvious instances of hiss, crackle, pops, or flutter.
Special Features: 2.5/5
Audio Commentary: film historian Simon Abrams does a fine job analyzing the film and comparing it to the original story and the 1936 film (often reading text from the story or script to illustrate changes from the originals).
Theatrical Trailer (2:16, HD)
Kino Trailers: Bedtime Story, Separate Tables, Death on the Nile, No Highway in the Sky, Flower Drum Song, The Art of Love, What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?
Overall: 2.5/5
Henry Koster’s 1957 remake of My Man Godfrey is somewhat sterile and superficial losing much of the screwball element and the satirical tartness of the 1936 original. But the Kino Lorber Blu-ray release offers the movie in its best-ever shape that fans of the stars or its director will likely appreciate.
My Man Godfrey [Blu-ray]
41% Off $24.95 $14.79
Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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