How much can a country change in 20 years? While two decades of peace and prosperity might see little change, other decades might witness huge changes after war or revolution. By watching classic movies, we can clearly see how American society changed during the early to mid-20th century— especially through the lens of an original film and a remake produced 20 years later.
“My Man Godfrey” was originally made in 1936 with William Powell and Carole Lombard and was remade in 1957 with David Niven and June Allyson. While the script and premise of a remake are similar to the original, shifts in the motion picture industry affected the style. Sophisticated romances and screwball comedies of the 1930s and early 1940s were remade as musicals in the mid-1950s.
Two Movies, One Story
The storyline of “My Man Godfrey” is simple. A group of idle rich are having a wild treasure hunt as part of an elaborate party. Two heiress sisters, Irene (Lombard and Allyson) and Cordelia (Gail Patrick and Martha Hyer) Bullock, are very competitive with each other, so they’re frantic to beat each other at the game. They fight over an item they must find, ending up near the harbor.Irene, the more whimsical sister, runs across a hobo, who endears himself to her by upsetting her sister. Irene brings him back as an entry in the hunt. Strangely fascinated by the unusual man, she hires him as her butler; he needs the job badly, so he accepts. She is shocked to see how refined he is the next morning after he has cleaned up.
How They Differ
The plots of these two films are basically identical, even down to the dialogue. However, certain changes to the remake sets them apart from each other. The Godfrey of the 1936 film is from an affluent family, the “Parkes of Boston,” but he became a hobo after a woman broke his heart. In the 1957 movie, Godfrey still comes from a wealthy background, but he was no longer from Boston. Instead, the mysterious butler is an Austrian nobleman who jumped off a freighter in the New York harbor because he wanted to become an American after feeling hopelessly displaced by World War II.
The London-born Niven’s decidedly British accent was explained by the fact that Godfrey was educated in England, but the Austrian origin story was developed because he was not first choice for the role. This was to be Austrian movie star O.W. Fischer’s Hollywood debut, but he was fired from the production after just 16 days. Nevertheless, the story adaptation clearly was changed very little after he was replaced.
The switch from a rich boy turned hobo to an Ally-sympathizing war veteran was significant, but it makes sense on the other side of World War II. The “forgotten man” element involving Godfrey and the homeless men he befriends was pertinent during the Great Depression, but less relevant 20 years later. The other significant difference between the two films is that Godfrey’s old friend, who almost reveals his identity to the Bullocks, was changed from a male chum (Alan Mowbray) to a glamorous female friend, played by Eva Gabor.
