Classic 30s Farce to Be Shown at the Lake

If you’re looking for comedy with witty dialogue and takes unconventional turns – and you don’t mind that it’s in black and white ­- catch “My Man Godfrey,” at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday at the Lake Theatre, 1022 Lake St.

The movie features Carole Lombard as a dizzy socialite with a crazy household who discovers Godfrey- the stand-in for every “forgotten man” of the Great Depression – played by William Powell and hires him as a butler. She thinks he’s a tramp who needs a job; he teaches them that money isn’t everything. (No other plot lines will be revealed in this story). 

The film earned six Oscar nominations, including acting nods for Powell and Lombard and supporting actors Mischa Auer and Alice Brady, best director Gregory La Cava and best screenplay Morrie Ryskind (co-writer of the Marx Brothers classic "A Night at the Opera") and Eric Hatch .

What makes this picture so wonderful is that it’s a classic screwball comedy of the 1930s.  What made a movie a screwball comedy? It mixed slapstick with fast-paced repartee. Characters tried to keep an important fact a secret. There often was a central romantic story usually in which the characters seem mismatched.  Other examples of this genre include “Bringing up Baby,” with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn; “You Can’t Take it With You” starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur; “His Girl Friday” with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and “To Be or Not to Be,” with Jack Benny and Lombard, in her final film.

Over the years “My Man Godfrey” has been recognized as one of Hollywood’s finest comedies. It is ranked 44th on the American Film Institute’s 100 best comedies of all times. The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress considered this film culturally significant and selected it for preservation in 1999. It is one of the few films with a 100-percent rating on the Rotten Tomatoes movie rating database.

Its showing at the Lake is part of the theater’s 75th Anniversary celebration and the 1936 Film Series. Admission is $5. Call 708-848-9088.