RetroClips

The joke -- rich people turning homeless men into a party game -- was sharp enough in 1936 that the film still reads as social commentary, not just farce, underneath the screwball banter. William Powell and Carole Lombard, married and divorced in real life by the time they made this together, have a chemistry the studio bet the whole picture on. It was nominated for six Oscars and lost every one, and is still one of the genre's high points.