It Happened One Night

Plot synopsis:
It Happened One Night begins with a rich heiress named Ellie Andrews sequestered by her father on his yacht, disapproving of her marriage to a famous aviator named King Westley. After an argument, she escapes the yacht and swims away. She buys a bus ticket to travel back to New York to her husband, where she meets an out of work reporter named Peter Warne. Eventually he finds out her true identity from a newspaper article about her escape. He offers to help her get to her destination in exchange for exclusive rights to her story, and secures her cooperation by threatening to turn her in to her father if she does not agree.
Andrews and Warne share hotel rooms on their trip, pretending to be husband and wife to keep from arousing suspicion. Because she is a married woman, they put up a blanket as a barrier, with Warne referring to it as the walls of Jericho. One of the other bus passengers recognizes Andrews from an article offering a $10,000 reward for her return. While the bus is stranded in mud, the passenger offers to split the money with Warne if he helps him turn in Andrews. Warne scares the passenger away by implying that hes a professional criminal looking for $1,000,000 in ransom money and then threatens to shoot him when he becomes frightened. Warne and Andrews then leave the bus to hitchhike in case the other passenger decides to turn them in to the police.
After they spend the night sleeping in hay, Andrews gets a driver to stop by flashing one of her legs, who turns out to be a robber who drives off with their possessions. After chasing after him, Warne inexplicably returns with a bloody temple and the mans car. In the meantime, the father reluctantly agrees to allow the marriage to the aviator if his daughter returns. While spending another night in a blanket-partitioned hotel room, Andrews throws herself at Warne and proposes that they both be together. Warne seemingly rejects her and after she falls asleep he drives back to New York in the middle of the night. He sells his story about his love and potential marriage to Andrews to his old boss for $1000, so as not to propose to her while broke. Meanwhile, the suspicious manager of the hotel kicks out Andrews when she finds out that Warne has left.
Thinking that Warne hates her, Andrews phones her father in order to turn herself in. Her father picks her up with a police escort while Warne is returning just in time to see them drive by. Angry with her, Warne contacts the father about reward money. He agrees to go to their home while a real marriage ceremony for Andrews and the aviator is to take place. He only comes to collect $39.60 for his expenses and not the full $10,000 and admits to the father that he loves his daughter. The father starts to like Warne and during the ceremony manages to convince his daughter that Warne really loves her and that she should leave the aviator. Andrews runs away during the ceremony, her father pays off the aviator to annul the wedding, and she eventually marries the reporter. The film ends in a hotel room with the "walls of Jericho" coming down.

Tags: romantic, comedy

Review:
But in doing what he did for Clark Gable's character, Capra created a whole new type of screen comedy, the classic screwball comedy and It Happened One Night surely set the mold.Capra's autobiography told the story of the making of It Happened One Night which in itself could be a movie.
It Happened One Night directed by Frank Capra was made and released in 1934 by Columbia Pictures as a small budget film that was not expected to do well at the box office.
Claudette Colbert is seen in a close up of softer light to emphasize Clark Gable's character seeing her in a `different light.' In this romantic comedy Capra not only showed new styles and techniques but also addressed social issues of the time.
We follow the story of spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who jumps ship from her father's yacht (literally!) in Florida after an argument with said father (played by Walter Connolly) over her marrying wealthy playboy King Westley (Jameson Thomas) without her father's consent.
Technically, it was well-made for it's time.IHON won 5 Oscars- Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra), Best Actress and Best Actor for Colbert and Gable and Best Adaptation.
It wasn't until I actually looked into the film when I in fact realized I hadn't.The first film to sweep the major categories in an Oscar ceremony, It Happened One Night spins the story of a young spoiled heiress (Colbert) who marries a shallow, yet dashing aviator.
Of course, there were certain moments that were hilarious and overdone (the scene when Gable and Colbert pose as husband and wife to share a cabin for the night is absolutely rich) but the majority of the remaining film is clever romantic comedy with fairly even performances by the principles.
The  set up is that Ellie (Claudette Colbert) is a rich, spoiled,  independent woman who is running away from her father (in Florida) to  join her husband (not quite a complete marriage) in New York City.
The main reason "It Happened One Night" worked then and still works today is the accidental pairing of Colbert and Gable, who provide an amazing chemistry under Frank Capra's direction.
The romance of a cynical reporter with a spoiled young woman is very funny despite being naive and dated, with witty dialogs, and the chemistry between Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable is marvelous.
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are great together as they match wits and display warm chemistry.'It Happened One Night' has become an instant favourite, one that I definitely plan to revisit..
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934), directed by Frank Capra, based on a short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, ranks one of the best known and popular romantic comedies from the 1930s, thanks to the star chemistry of Clark Gable (on loan from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and Claudette Colbert (on loan from Paramount), with fine direction by Frank Capra, witty screenplay by Robert Risken, and for being the very first motion picture to win all five major Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Gable); Best Actress (Colbert); Best Director (Capra); Best Screenplay and Best Picture.
This might have been an "upset" in 1934, considering other top-rated films and performances of the year, but who would have imagined IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT to still be as entertaining today as it was back in 1934?This now well-known plot that's been remade twice by Columbia as EVE KNEW HER APPLES (1945) with Ann Miller and William Wright; and YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM IT (1956) with June Allyson and Jack Lemmon, opens in a yacht in Miami where Ellen "Ellie" Andrews (Claudette Colbert), spoiled daughter of a millionaire Wall Street banker, Alexander Andrews (Walter Connolly), who disapproves of her recent marriage to aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), making arrangements on having it annulled.
Hours before reaching New York and taking a rest stop in an auto camp, misunderstandings occur as Ellen awakens to find both Peter and the car gone.A simple story playing like an overlong "B" movie, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is a memorable bus trip of so many classic scenes that have been imitated by others but never duplicated.
Highlights include the "Walls of Jericho" where Peter and Ellen share a room in auto camps where a blanket is tossed over a rope that separates the couple as they sleep for the night; Peter demonstrating to Ellen on how a man undresses, particularly one in which he removes his shirt to no undershirt underneath; Peter's correct method of dunking a dough-nut into a cup of coffee; and the classic hitchhiking scene where Peter fails to attract cars while Ellen comes up with a method all her own.Although IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is essentially a Claudette Colbert movie from start to finish (there's no secondary female character, quite rare for its time).
A spoiled heiress (Claudette Colbert), running away from her family, is helped by a man (Clark Gable) who is actually a reporter looking for a story.In this film "a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter", which, you know, is something that happens when spoiled daughters discover that they want to live like common people and do what common people do (like go to supermarkets).The film was the first to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), a feat that would not be matched until "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and later by "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991).
besides, it is Clark Gable and Frank Capra.So, this might not be as outright funny as other films, and even as far as screwball comedies go, it sort of lags behind "The Awful Truth" with Cary Grant.
I was neither a Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert or a Frank Capra fan before I saw this road movie, which won 5 Oscars, but after I did I became of fan of them for life!
The story of the movie is very interesting and the comic attribute added by both Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is sufficed to make anyone laugh.
"It Happened One Night" is a fine example of a quality screenplay, some good luck and a lot of chemistry, all coming together, producing an enduring and enjoyable comedy classic.Clark Gable comes across as completely natural and very entertaining.
For Gable, that meant macho romantic leading action man.To me, "It Happened One Night" is the best ever romantic comedy film, a gold standard for it's genre.
It's a very static made film, as if it was just a job that had to be done and no real passion was thrown into it.As could be expected, the acting is still great though, from Clark Gable and the much more unknown Claudette Colbert.
Having the great pair of Gable and Colbert, and Capra as the director lifts this film to the heavens of classic cinema.
Despite the clever set-up, I found the story and the main characters hard to take after the first 20 minutes.Director Frank Capra gets more out of ambiance here, and some fantastic visual language, like the way the rain falls outside the windows of a cabin where Ellie and Peter are holed up.
The worst part comes near the end, when he abruptly leaves her alone for a night and gets mad when she reacts naturally enough by returning to Pa.There are iconic moments in the film, like when she shows him up as the better hitchhiker, and when she is clearly affected by the sight of Peter without a shirt on, but what "It Happened" lacks are the smaller moments that pull you in without feeling manipulated.
You have to love the bit parts of Alan Hale Sr as the singing driver, Roscoe Karnes as the 'Shapely' guy on the bus(his name and....), the 'brawling couple' stuff, and as always, the 'Walls of Jericho'.I always enjoy the great b & w look, the heart that Capra gives us with the snap, and of course Claudette Colbert, Gable never better.It won a lot of Oscars, it deserved them.**** outta ****.
Since I had recently seen Capra's marvelous It Happened one Night I was reminded of the moment towards the end of the picture in which Claudette Colbert declares her love for Clark Gable.I was trying to understand the thought processes of Gable as he lies quietly, but obviously engrossed in his own mental meanderings.
Best Actress (Claudette Colbert) Best Actor (Clark Gable) Best Director (Frank Capra) and, of course, BEST PICTURE!!
Then, with bad news behind them, they'd tuck into a masterpiece of comic fluff titled `It Happened One Night.'	Director Frank Capra's movie practically invented screwball comedy, movies that helped America take its mind off the ongoing worldwide economic depression.
The film won best picture, Capra best director, Gable best actor, and Colbert best actress.
only One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Silence of the Lambs have equaled that.After 70 years, it's charm still holds up and Director Frank Capra isn't guilty of manipulating the audience into sappiness...which he would do from time to time in later projects.He and screenwriter ( Robert Riskin) pit two opposites: gruff, cocksure and seemingly untrustworthy newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable); with cultured, rich, naive, sheltered American Princess Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert).
The Depression, the melding of 2 different classes, which is an American institution...sense of looking out for the other person, they're all here.there's a scene in mid film...on the second bus ride, where Peter gives all his cash to a young boy traveling with his starving mom to meet his father...that is Capra at his best.
Movie Review: "It Happened One Night" (1934)At the evening Acdemy-Award ceremony of Wednesday, February 27th 1937 at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California founded in 1923 comes along the first Hollywood motion picture able to prevail at today's standards in speed, screwball wits, action as comedic beats by the minute, which only flaw has become not being in splendid "technicolor" receptions; nevertheless to stay relevant to this day as one of U.S. American motion picture milestones, if not to say the "Best Picture" of decade 1930s in favor of world-war-traumatized generation, when Hollywood under the ingenius direction of Frank Capra (1897-1991), pulling all the strings with privately "high-rise" as Columbia Pictures exclusive-contracted actress Claudette Colbert (1903-1996) playing richman's daughter Ellie in utmost spoiled brat supremes, who becomes the infamous often copied hardly reached character of a runaway bride, when also Academy-Award-winning actor Clark Gable (1901-1960) as Peter, the hungry New York journalist out for another hit story is stealing this high-end Hollywood showcase running with a "Clean-Sweep" whole circle win concerning five Academy-Award nominations equaled by five Oscars trophies, including for both leading actors, director Frank Capra and the production fully ingnited by Hollywood major Columbia Pictures (founded in 1918); in occasion only matched two times after in "Oscar" history concerning the four major catogories by independently-produced "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson & Louis Fletcher directed by Milos Forman und Orion Pictures co-financed successor to Michael Mann's "Manhunter" (1986) "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) starring Jodie Foster and Sir Anthony Hopkins directed by Jonathan Demme (1944-2017).© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend
The first film to win the 5 major Oscars, 'Happened' stars the legendary Clark Gable as he accompanies a spoiled girl from Miami to New York, played by Claudette Colbert.
On her way on the bus, she meets a reporter (Clark Gable) on the look for a story, and who will challenge her attitude with his charms for an exciting cross-country tour.Frank Capra's direction of this film is typical of the instanses, where a great director is working from a great script - here from Robert Riskin.
(And, boy, did she ever have it coming to her!) I can't begin to tell you how much I wished that this royal, high'n'mighty bitch had gotten her over-lacquered face slapped a few more times, but, of course, it never happened.Over the years I have heard (time & again) people literally falling all over themselves, raving away to me about "It Happened One Night" (IHON) being the ultimate "be-all-and-end-all" of Hollywood, screwball comedies.Well, I must say, that after giving IHON a fair enough view, I couldn't believe how petty, small and downright trivial its sappy story was.Not only was there absolutely no on-screen chemistry, whatsoever, taking place between IHON's 2 co-stars (Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert), but, I thought that Colbert's character (Ellie Andrews) was positively despicable and I couldn't have given a wet fart about her "poor-little-rich-girl" problems.And, not only that, but, Colbert (who was 31 at the time) was clearly way too old to be playing this part which would have been more suited for a younger woman of about 20.I am absolutely shocked out of my socks that this trite, little, nothing-of-a-movie actually swept the 1935 Oscar presentations by scoring for itself 5 of its prized awards in all of the top categories of "Picture", "Actor", "Actress", "Director" & "Screenplay".Back in "Depression Era" America IHON might have thrilled and delighted its audiences to literal pieces, but, today, 80 years later, its apparent charm & appeal (which doesn't hold up very well) got completely lost on this here viewer.All that IHON came across as being was just a completely contrived, clichéd and predictable story whose attempt at cuteness and coyness left me utterly unmoved.From my point of view, this rather flat and tired "Boy-Meets-Girl" Comedy/Romance was, at best, only mediocre entertainment..
Frank Capra directs Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert, who star in this Academy Award winning(Best Picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay) comedy as Gable plays reporter Peter Warne, who stumbles onto a huge story when he discovers that runaway heiress bride Ellie Andrews is on a bus, and trying to conceal her identity.
She agrees, and so begins a road picture, as they later leave the bus and are forced to walk and hitchhike, until he can get her back home, assuming they don't fall in love of course...Hilarious comedy with two lead characters you like and care about, and many memorable scenes.
That aspect alone helps me to understand how and why this movie took Hollywood by storm that year and swept through the academy awards.Clark Gable is fantastic as a newspaper reporter who has a great story drop right in his lap when he gets on a bus with runaway heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert.) From the moment Gable appears on film, (calling his boss from a pay phone while he's drunk), every scene from then on is a classic to this viewer.
While this is definitely not my type of movie I had a great time watching Frank Capra's 1934 "It Happened One Night." The pace and timing throughout this movie is impeccable and I really enjoyed Claudette Colbert's role as the wealthy heiress trying to escape her father's wrath and find true love.
"It Happened One Night" is a hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy about a young newlywed (Oscar-winner Claudette Colbert) who has been forced onto her rich father's (Walter Connolly) yacht after he annuls the marriage.
Every time I watched the movie , I understand what Clark gable was thinking , and I understand how Claudette Colbert could fall in live with him.
Peter and Ellie can't stand one another but he agrees to help her reach New York in exchange for an exclusive story.Frank Capra ended up winning Best Director and the picture ending up nabbing all the major awards, which was the first time this had ever been done and it wouldn't happen again until ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST did it fifty years later.
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is a film that has been copies dozens if not hundreds of times over the years so it's easy to look at it and not see anything original but in 1934 this here was original material and it's easy to see why it was a box office hit and walked away with so many Oscars.It's funny to think that Columbia approached this as a "B" movie but it shows what a great director can do with a good story and a wonderful cast.
This "classic" movie, starring Clark Gable, and Claudette Colbert and directed by Frank Capra, doesn't REALLY stand up the test of time very well.
Dialogue is incredibly fresh and snappy and even the romantic side is not straightforward, keeping the schmaltz to a minimum and taking some unpredictable twists and turns.The great direction by Capra and the solid script are aided by wonderful performances from Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in the lead roles.
Dialogue is incredibly fresh and snappy and even the romantic side is not straightforward, keeping the schmaltz to a minimum and taking some unpredictable twists and turns.The great direction by Capra and the solid script are aided by wonderful performances from Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in the lead roles.
Director Frank Capra, helped in no small part by the performances of his two great stars, produced a film which not only was a classic in its time but which still stands up today all these decades later..
The 1934 American film, "It happened one night" directed by Frank Capra, is a perfect example of a screw-ball comedy.
Starring such actors as Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, and Walter Conelly, this was the first film to ever win all five major Academy Awards(Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay).
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night was a film I saw a few years ago, first and only time (though there will be other viewings to come), and it's never left me.
Trust me -- It's that good!).The first film to win Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay, "It Happened One Night" is a heartwarming, charming, hilarious movie that I would recommend for any couple (young or old) to see.