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Another Great Powell Vehicle


I've only recently discovered William Powell's movies. He was a really good comedic actor with excellent timing. Its on display here as he plays a homeless man "discovered" by a rich socialite. The film's premise is that money cannot buy class or honor.

Powell is Godfrey, a homeless man living in the slums who becomes the pawn of socialite Irene (Lombard) who is playing a snobbish game of scavenger hunt and needs to bring in a bum. Godfrey isn't your typical homeless man and he takes the rich folks to task for their obliviousness. He winds up being hired as a butler by Irene and when he joins the Bullock household he finds them quite devoid of humanity. Irene's father is a long suffering enabler who allows his two daughters to run amok. Irene's mother is a scatterbrain who thinks she is mentoring the snobbish musician, Carlo, but is basically treating him like a pet.

Godfrey manages to teach each of the Bullocks about real life and the reveal about Godfrey's past makes him remarkably qualified to lecture them. Eventually, he falls in love with Irene, I think, or maybe she just wears him down. The relationship is poorly developed and Lombard plays Irene as a spoiled shrew throughout the film and that never changes. What Godfrey saw in here is beyond me. Her jealous and conniving sister seemed more a match for Godfrey.

Powell has some great lines and his comedic timing is impeccable. This is definitely one of his best.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.

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