It Happened One Night (1934)
At a glance, It Happened One Night could be pegged as a romantic comedy, a road picture, a chase story, or a social commentary. Actually, it’s all of the above—but it isn’t epic in scope or length, it’s not noble in philosophy or grand in spectacle, and it isn’t a war movie. It doesn’t bear the salient characteristics of its honored predecessors. Still, this simple film manages to resonate and entertain like few others. What’s clear from the start is that while I wasn’t looking, the bar of filmmaking was raised to the next level.
Quite by accident, director Frank Capra ran across an article in Cosmopolitan Magazine called Night Bus. It captured his imagination and became the basis of a screenplay he developed with writer Robert Riskin. Meanwhile Louis B. Mayer felt like teaching Clark Gable a lesson at MGM by loaning his big star to Columbia for this seemingly modest project that both Fredric March and Robert Montgomery had turned down. By good timing and great fortune Gable was snagged for the hard-nosed reporter Peter Warne. Claudette Colbert had just finished filming Cleopatra and Imitation of Life for release that same year and was happily packing her bags for a much-needed vacation when Capra approached her to play Ellie Andrews, following a pass on the role from Myrna Loy, Constance Bennett, and others. After reading the script and thinking little of it, Colbert told Capra she had four weeks before she left for Sun Valley. She also demanded twice her usual salary of $25,000 per picture at Paramount, clearly putting up hurdles to make the offer less appealing. Capra was determined and went to Harry Cohn, certain his studio boss would never agree to her terms. Cohn told Capra if he could make the movie in four weeks, Colbert could have her $50,000 paycheck.
So the entire film was shot on the relatively small budget of $250,000 in just four weeks, and the rest is history. All the elements come together in a splendid zenith. The acting is spontaneous and natural for the most part, excluding an occasional, in-your-face gag, but there are prolonged moments of silence throughout, where Capra lets the camera linger on a face and asks the audience to create the dialogue in their minds. It works beautifully, largely due to the incomparable talent of the two leads. Their subtle pictures paint a thousand words.
Make no mistake, without Capra at the helm, this movie wouldn’t be the same. In fact, it could have been a disaster. He gives us flawed characters that border on unlikeable—even despicable at times—and certainly opportunistic. It’s the reason he struggled to find A-list talent. In less capable hands, audiences wouldn’t care a whit what happened. The way this genius-director presents them, however, is appealing and charming. In the first scene with Ellie and her wealthy father (the brilliant Walter Connolly), Capra allows their chemistry to overtake the prickly dialogue and volatile situation. It’s obvious these two care for each other even if they’re scrapping to the point of Ellie hurling lunch trays aside in a spoiled rampage and diving off the edge of Daddy’s yacht to escape his bidding. Ellie, you see, has eloped with King Westley (Jameson Thomas), another opportunistic rogue. She did it to spite her father, and whether she loves Westley or not is irrelevant. She is asserting her independence, and that’s what matters. The scene ends with Andrews messaging detectives that his daughter has escaped … again.
Ellie pays an elderly woman to buy her a bus ticket to New York, and it’s at this same terminal that we find our inebriated reporter Peter Warne, telling off his newspaper editor over the phone with a group of braying bystanders egging him on. The dialogue is witty, although dated, but it’s because of the tongue-in-cheek atmosphere throughout this film that it works when Peter calls his boss a “gas-house palooka,” and Gordon (the crackling Charles C. Wilson) in return tells Peter his antics have cost him a “gob o’ dough.” We’re witnessing the birth of the screwball comedy as Peter and Ellie end up on the same bus, sitting together in the back. Thus begins a journey, a chase, a social commentary between the common man and rich society, and in time a romance. These two rotten people soon bring out the best in each other.
The trip isn’t without its bumps. Ellie’s luggage is stolen at the first stop, and she has nothing but four dollars left. Peter grows suspicious when she refuses to wire for money or involve the police. He discovers her identity after spotting a newspaper headline with her photo, but instead of ratting her out, he works a deal to their mutual benefit. He promises Ellie she’ll get to King Westley in New York without interference from Daddy’s detectives or the media. In exchange, she’ll agree to give him the exclusive scoop of her elopement with Westley. Considering her lack of options, Ellie accepts.
Several iconic scenes follow, including “the Walls of Jericho,” where Peter uses a clothesline and blanket to divide their sleeping areas in the same motel room, the hitchhiking scene where Ellie shows how easy it is to stop traffic with a glimpse of her shapely leg, and speaking of shapely, Roscoe Karns gives a memorable if annoying turn as fellow traveler Oscar Shapeley.
It Happened One Night was the first film (of only three to date) to win the Grand Slam at the Academy Awards, picking up all top five statues: Best Picture, Best Director (Capra), Best Actor (Gable), Best Actress (Colbert), and Best Screenplay (Riskin). It’s also a rare win for a comedy when most Oscar champs are dramas. What sets this movie apart isn’t its lofty intentions or noble message, it’s the sheer, top-notch quality in every aspect of the medium. It’s a perfect little film with a wry sense of humor and a heart of gold.
It Happened One Night
Director | Frank Capra |
Primary Cast | Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Jameson Thomas, Alan Hale, Charles C. Wilson |
Familiar Faces | none (no repeat performers from the previous winning films) |
Firsts | First of only three films to win the Grand Slam (all top-five awards): Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. First screwball comedy. First film produced by Columbia to win Best Picture. Claudette Colbert is the first and only actress to play a leading role in three Best Picture nominees in the same year (It Happened One Night, Cleopatra, and Imitation of Life). |
Total Wins | 5 (Picture, Director, Actor: Clark Gable, Actress: Claudette Colbert, Writing – Adaptation) |
Total Nominations | 5 (Picture, Director, Actor: Clark Gable, Actress: Claudette Colbert, Writing – Adaptation) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |
This has always been one of our favorites. It is fortunate that the movie muses pulled it all together.
One of my favorites as well. I never tire of watching it.
Well, I don’t even know what to say about this. This, to me, is a perfect film. There’s not a mis-step anywhere. Amazing chemistry between two people who didn’t want to do the film. Everything about it just clicks into place. The script is charming and clever. And Capra doesn’t miss a note. And every character part is spot on as well.
And they had some pretty stiff competition at the Oscars this year. Remarkable work.
(I did see two editing moments that pulled me out of the film. The first in the ‘walls of Jericho’ sequence as Gable is about to remove his pants. Colbert is against the wall and starts to move. It then cuts to a close up of her and she’s not moving yet. She takes a beat and then moves. An easy fix. I’m not sure why they left it. The second toward the end of the film when her father comes to check on her before the wedding. In the middle of the scene she says, “I’m tired father. I’m tired of running around in circles”. There is a cut between the two lines and you see her start to say the second line on screen but there is no audio. Then you hear the audio and the cut happens and syncs up with the new visual. I guess when I think a film is perfect, they have to prove me wrong.)
Criterion’s transfer is terrific. I was aware of switching between their two source materials in terms of contrast and grain structure. But it still looks great. I can’t imagine how beautiful this would look if the original negative still existed.
Great film making.
Thanks for your comments, Michael, and I know what you mean about those clumsy edits. I don’t know why they were left in, unless post-production was rushed on this movie, which might have been the case. They made it “on the cheap” for $250,000 total, so maybe they couldn’t afford to spend more time on it. I do love that the shooting schedule was rushed, because I think it added to the spontaneity of the two main performances. They almost feel improvised at times. I’m sure there were a lot of “first takes” printed as they rushed ahead to the next setup. It all works, by some miracle! I’m glad you love it as much as I do.