Actor · 1892–1984

William Powell

4: briefs
13:00: average
52 min: in total

On film.briefs4

My Man Godfrey

Gregory La Cava · 1936

My Man Godfrey (1936), directed by Gregory La Cava, follows a homeless man hired as butler by a Manhattan socialite during the Great Depression. William Powell and Carole Lombard anchor a sharp, fast-paced romantic comedy that skewers wealth while relying on inherited status to resolve its tensions. Ted Tetzlaff’s cinematography and tight editing sustain its screwball energy, though the finale retreats from its earlier bite. Critically lauded then and now, it remains a masterclass in studio-era comic construction — elegant, economical, and knowingly incomplete.

13:00

The Last Command

Josef von Sternberg · 1928

The Last Command (1928), directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, follows a fallen Russian grand duke reduced to working as a Hollywood extra. When cast to play his former self, memory and reality blur, culminating in a fatal breakdown on set. Shot in five weeks with Bert Glennon’s precise cinematography, it is a tightly wound study of identity, power, and performance — awarded the first Best Actor Oscar and preserved in the US National Film Registry.

13:00

The Great Ziegfeld

Robert Z. Leonard · 1936

The Great Ziegfeld (1936) is MGM’s lavish biographical musical about Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., starring William Powell, Luise Rainer and Myrna Loy. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg, it prioritises spectacle over accuracy — staging extravagant musical numbers, deploying hundreds of costumers and technicians, and constructing monumental sets like the 100-ton ‘Melody’ staircase. Though factually loose and dramatically thin, its unwavering commitment to scale, craft and ceremonial grandeur makes it a defining artefact of studio-era ambition.

13:00

The Thin Man

W. S. Van Dyke, Lesley Selander · 1934

The Thin Man (1934) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy-mystery starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a witty, well-heeled couple who stumble into a murder investigation during a Christmas trip to New York. Based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel and directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the film prioritises their effortless rapport over plot intricacy, using the detective framework to sustain banter, charm, and domestic ease. James Wong Howe’s cinematography and Van Dyke’s spontaneous direction reinforce its light, confident tone.