{"id":9233,"date":"2018-10-25T16:12:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T20:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=9233"},"modified":"2024-12-07T13:09:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T18:09:01","slug":"it-happened-one-night-1934","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=9233","title":{"rendered":"It Happened One Night-1934"},"content":{"rendered":"

It Happened One Night-1934<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Frank Capra<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #824<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed October 25, 2018<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the film that best defines the early cinematic romantic comedy and certainly the one most modern genre films can learn from, It Happened One Night (1934) is a lively, fun romp.<\/p>\n

The film carted away the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress Academy Awards, a rare feat, and defined what romantic tension and thoughtful dialogue should be in a quality picture. All the elements sparkle into an excellent classic film watch.<\/p>\n

Ellie Andrews (Colbert) is a pampered socialite who recently disobeyed her overbearing and wealthy father by eloping with a blue-collar pilot who is feared to be after her money.<\/p>\n

Determined, Ellie escapes her father’s clutches and hops on a Greyhound bus headed from Florida to New York, where her husband is. When she crosses paths with an out-of-work journalist, Peter Warne (Gable), they each find an opportunity to use the other to their advantage.<\/p>\n

The pair’s adventures along the East Coast lead to antics and schemes as they fall madly in love with one another.<\/p>\n

It Happened One Night successfully mixes a good romance with some screwball comedy without ever becoming silly or trite.<\/p>\n

The film also serves as a good old-fashioned adventure story as Peter and Ellie face one hurdle after another on their trek north.<\/p>\n

Pleasing is how the duo slowly finds romance but first begins as irritants towards each other. The chemistry between the actors is superb and never seems forced or contrived.<\/p>\n

Frank Capra, a famous director with successes throughout the 1930s, culminating with the holiday favorite It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), had several Oscar-winning films during the decade.<\/p>\n

It Happened One Night seems to have inspired most of them, and the acting, absurd situations, dialogue, and direction all successfully come together.<\/p>\n

Shot in black and white and the Motion Picture Production Code, which heavily restricted details deemed too violent or sexual, It Happened One Night pushed the envelope quite a bit.<\/p>\n

This is to the film’s credit- who can forget the adorable yet provocative scene in which Ellie shows her shapely legs to enable the duo to catch a ride? The lovable scene, non-risque in today’s modern world, was anything but in 1934.<\/p>\n

An interesting, at that time unique, point is that supporting characters are more layered than is typical in romantic comedies. Danker, whom Peter and Ellie hitch a ride with, is seemingly a decent man but ultimately attempts to steal their luggage.<\/p>\n

Later, Ellie’s preposterous father turns out to be a decent man, so the film also contains a few character surprises.<\/p>\n

While not quite a pure masterpiece, It Happened One Night (1934) is nonetheless an inspired legendary film that can be viewed and enjoyed for the period in which it was made.<\/p>\n

The film stands out among the similarly themed romantic comedies of the 1930s and 1940s and is a teachable moment for all filmmakers who explore the same genre territory.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 5 wins<\/strong>– Outstanding Production (won)<\/strong>, Best Director (won)<\/strong>, Best Actor-Clark Gable (won)<\/strong>, Best Actress-Claudette Colbert (won)<\/strong>, Best Adaptation (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It Happened One Night-1934 Director Frank Capra Starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert Scott’s Review #824 Reviewed October 25, 2018 Grade: A- Perhaps the film that best defines the early cinematic romantic comedy and certainly the one most modern genre films can learn from, It Happened One Night (1934) is a lively, fun romp. The film … Continue reading It Happened One Night-1934<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374,42,458,3757,49,362,3756,45,3758],"tags":[375,58,459,3760,252,363,3759,95,3761],"class_list":["post-9233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1934-movie-reviews","category-bestpictureoscar","category-clark-gable","category-claudette-colbert","category-comedies","category-favorite-film-of-the-year","category-frank-capra","category-romcoms","category-walter-connolly","tag-1934-movie-reviews","tag-best-picture-oscar-winners","tag-clark-gable","tag-claudette-colbert","tag-comedies","tag-favorite-film-of-the-year","tag-frank-capra","tag-romantic-comedies","tag-walter-connolly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9233"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20800,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9233\/revisions\/20800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}