It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night is the quintessential romantic comedy. It was one of the last rom-coms to be made prior to the Code, giving it a little bit of breathing room in terms of some of the, ahem, content. It’s a treat to watch today, with all of the little bits of pieces of gushy romantic stuff floating around, a suave and sophisticated Clark Gable, and the cute-as-a-button Claudette Colbert doing her best spoiled rich girl act.

As the first motion picture to scoop all five major Academy Awards, that in itself being a feat that would only be matched by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs. While Colbert didn’t think much of the movie when she finished shooting and director Frank Capra wasn’t all that thrilled with the apathetic reviews and early press, It Happened One Night went on to become a considerable success and remains an iconic romantic comedy.

Gable stars as newspaperman Peter Warne. He keeps getting in trouble for drinking, it is suggested, and is on the hunt for a big story that will help save his career. While on a bus, he meets spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Colbert) and soon learns that her extremely wealthy father (Walter Connolly) is looking for her after she escaped his bid to prevent her from consummating a marriage to King Westley (Jameson Thomas).

Knowing that she’s a spoiled brat and knowing she’s in a predicament, Warne sets a plan in motion to get the big story he needs and to return the dame to King Westley so that she can be with the man she’s married to. Ellie agrees to the plan but, as one might expect, the two begin to develop feelings for one another throughout the road’s misadventures and, sooner or later, Warne finds himself deeply in love with the brat.

Colbert apparently didn’t have much of a good time making It Happened One Night, but it thankfully never shows on screen. She is bubbly and interesting, formulating a downright adorable character in Ellie and remaining lovable despite being a rather sheltered and spoiled character. Her chemistry with Gable’s Warne is good, too, and ultimately believable.

Much is made in the film about marriage roles and marriage vows. The values and morals of the time are certainly apparent within the screenplay, as the “Walls of Jericho” symbolizing the respect of marital vows remain a steady strain throughout the motion picture. When the Walls of Jericho start coming down, hilariously so at the end of the picture, it’s clear that a line has been crossed.

It is said that Stalin was a fan of It Happened One Night and that the character of Bugs Bunny from Friz Freleng was partially influenced by characters in the movie. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, Capra’s picture is brilliantly funny and flat-out entertaining. It helped build the architecture on which most modern romantic comedies set their own devices and remains a sure and steady example of flirtatious character development done right.

Trailer: