In 1935 the Oscar for Best Picture was awarded to It Happened One Night. This movie is one of only three films ever to sweep Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actor, and Best Lead Actress. Directed by Frank Capra, the movie is a charming comedy that teams two of the era’s top stars, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who recently eloped against her father’s wishes. He fears her new husband is interested only in the fortune that Ellie will eventually inherit. He attempts to hold Ellie against her will while he arranges for an annulment. Ellie escapes her confinement, boards a bus to New York, and during the journey meets boozy newspaper reporter Peter Warne. As with most good romcoms, the two characters are initially quite abrasive, but through circumstance, they slowly warm to each other. Peter eventually realizes who she is and agrees to help her reach New York if she will give him her exclusive story. Colbert and Gable have a wonderful chemistry and an intimacy that transcends the rather light script.
My one complaint with the movie was the use of two actors in their mid-to-late thirties playing characters that are quite obviously intended to be much younger. In fact, twice when Colbert first meets Gable’s character, she is given the task of referring to him as “young man”. It’s a little much.
Some of the dialogue is outdated but this film is still a solid one, and it evokes some great laughter as these two people find a new and mutual path together.
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