Who the hell is Carlo?

My Man Godfrey... there are so many things to say about that film. I simply loved it. I've always been a little stubborn about old black and white movies. My parents watch them all the time and have tried to get me to join them. However, I was convinced that they were too old fashioned for me and not my style. I just would not enjoy them!

My bad.

The effects of the Great Depression are obvious in this film. The men living in the dump had obviously been down on their luck. I didn't really understand what was going on at first when the rich women approached them men in the dump. I immediately liked Godfrey's character, though. He was so sarcastic towards Cornelia and Irene and they didn't seem to catch on.

I liked that the rich are being picked on throughout the movie. The comparison to an asylum was amusing. Everyone was running around like maniacs, pushing their way past people, being rude and uncontrollable. It made me nervous just watching them.

I found it sad that a "forgotten man" was such a common thing to be included in a scavenger hunt. It was pretty messed up that the rich snobs would include it.

As discussed in class, "screwball comedies" include typically strong, but crazy women. They center around a romance story and rich people are laughed at. The mother, Angelica, was ridiculously annoying in the beginning of the movie. She became less annoying and more amusing as the movie went on, though. Cornelia was a total biotch throughout. The sibling rivalry was obvious and destructive. I understood it, though, as the middle child with two sisters. Irene was nicer but really odd. She got increasingly crazier as the movie progressed. The only "normal" woman in the film was the maid. She was very witty and smart.

My main question was: who the hell is Carlo?! I was trying to figure that out when he started jumping around like a maniacal gorilla. I didn't even know what to think! Then he was seen eating, singing, and ultimately, tossed out of a window. It was so so very odd. Only during the class discussion did I finally understand that not only was Carlo Mrs. Bullock's "protoge", but he was her live-in gigalo. How very improper!

I thought it was funny that almost every woman in the movie was desperately in love with Godfrey. Irene's miserable dramatic reaction to rejection was quite amusing. Not eating, constantly crying, making comments about how nothing matters... she reminded me of myself.

I found Gallagher's analysis on the class system interesting. Until I read his piece, I didn't notice that the middle class was virtually nonexistent throughout the film. We see the ultra rich and the ultra poor... with the servants Molly and Godfrey in between. And I do agree with those in class who said that the middle class is probably missing because the middle class were the ones watching the film- and they needed an escape from their own lives at that time.