It Happened One Night

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Brian C FULL OF CHARM AND WIT THAN REACHES ACROSS THE DECADES. A WONDERFUL ROMANTIC AND COMIC FILM THAT SHAMES CONTEMPORARY EFFORTS TO PORTRAY LOVE AND ROMANCE. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/18/24 Full Review Guy D Clark Gable is witty and Claudette Colbert wears her feelings on her sleeve. The audience gets pulled into a bus trip from Florida to New York. They don't get along very well but I found myself rooting for them. I watched it because Gable is a good actor & Frank Capra is a legend, but I was very surprised at how well all the actors perform in this comedy. It is perfection personified. I can understand how the move captured several academy awards. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/08/24 Full Review elana k Good for what it is. Great for the times. Excellent history lesson. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/24 Full Review Alec B Yes, the plot is hugely influential, but its the details, like the minor digressions, odd little comedic bits, and the electric chemistry of Gable and Colbert, that make the whole film hold up so well. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/10/23 Full Review Petros T The fact that so many films have been inspired by and have copied "It Happened One Night" diminishes its impact a little, but that's an unfair criticism; saying that it had a hand in writing the rom-com rulebook is quite an understatement, and what's equally remarkable is that it generally holds up still. Strong points include Gable and Colbert, the humour, character dynamics and plot, and Capra's sensitivity about scenes with no apparent payoff, which justly appear as important as the big ones. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/04/23 Full Review Matthew B It Happened One Night also had inauspicious beginnings. The film was made by Columbia Pictures, which was considered a minor film studio at the time. For this reason, many famous actors refused to appear in the film. What director Frank Capra got instead was two reluctant stars, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, who disliked the script, and kept insisting on changes. Colbert in particular loathed the movie. She complained every day, and was given to tantrums on set, according to Capra. "I just finished the worst picture in the world," she told a friend. Columbia too did not have much faith in their film. After a limited promotional campaign, the film's box office began slowly, only to suddenly take off as word got around. With just a $325,000 budget, It Happened One Night took in $2,500,000 at the box office and another two million in theatrical rentals. It was the first romantic comedy to win an Oscar for Best Picture. It was one of only three films that have ever taken all five of the most prestigious Academy Awards – Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Other claims that have been made about It Happened One Night I will present, but I cannot say for certain how true they are. Was it the first screwball comedy ever made? (Indeed is it a screwball comedy at all?) Is it the first movie to ever show the heroine jilting a man at the altar? Was it a personal favourite of both Stalin and Hitler? Did the character of Oscar Shapeley (Roscoe Karns) inspire Friz Freleng to create Bugs Bunny? Did the scene where Clark Gable takes off his shirt and bares his chest lead to a decline in the sale of men's undershirts? Is the man who sings the third verse of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" Frank Capra? I can say with more confidence that It Happened One Night was one of the most effective romantic comedies of the 1930s, and it helped to popularise many of the traits that became familiar in later films – the screwball comedy, the comedy based on notions of class, the odious fiancé or fiancée, and the good-natured battle of the sexes. The film is made with higher production values than many early 1930s movies. There are none of the static scenes where the camera is fixed in one spot while the characters talk. In keeping with a film where the characters are always on the move, the camera tracks and follows the characters. It is able to do this because the camera has been put on a crane. One scene that stays in my memory is a seemingly trivial one. After Peter and Ellie stop off for the night, Ellie is obliged to walk across the camp in order to take a shower. As she does so, the camera travels the camp with her, treating us to a remarkable view of the whole area as it does so. There is no obvious need for this scene. It contains no action or humour. It has no artistic significance. It is presumably only there because the director wished to experiment with an interesting shot, and test out what he could do with a camera on a crane. The shot may be unnecessary in terms of the story, but it gives me great pleasure to watch. That seems as fitting a point as any to leave It Happened One Night. There is no particular substance in the film compared with later Capra perhaps, but it is made with such skill and professionalism that it will always be a favourite among afficonados of old movies. To watch the movie is to feel a part of the world of Peter Warne and Ellie Andrews, and I am always happy to return there for another visit. I wrote a longer appreciation of It Happened One Night on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/02/23/it-happened-one-night-1934/ Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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