It Happened One Night

The combination of Capra’s playful sensibility, inimitable 1930s line delivery, and a screwball wit really come together here to capture lightning in a bottle.

A must see.

It’s every goddamn romantic comedy you’ve ever seen. They can all be traced back here, virtually without exception, for eight straight decades now. Technically, the film has never been remade, but that’s largely because, in spirit, it has never stopped being remade. Something so perfectly structured can support nearly endless variations. It’s timeless.

Even now, It Happened One Night carries the unmistakable tenor of a breakout hit, fueled by confidently zippy repartee and manic comic invention that almost none of the innumerable pretenders to the throne of romantic comedy can match.

The quick flow of comic incident through It Happened One Night reaches its fantastic conclusion...

It Happened One Night is pure delight.

The direction is excellent. Frank Capra never lets his picture lag for a moment. It is never very exciting, but it moves along snappily and it is full of amusing situations.

Grandiosa película, es un romance que claramente influenció a infinidad de películas posteriores, es por eso que puedes verla aún a día de hoy y se siente moderna. Es tan buena que justifica una infidelidad, porque, es decir, se escapa y vive una aventura muy entrañable con alguien con quien es bastante diferente, pero le hace ver otros puntos de vista; pero está comprometida, y si bien se dice que su prometido es un idiota (lo que se muestra es muy poquito), pues la trata bien. Es fácil como espectadores ponernos del lado del romance que surge, porque es el que vemos; además, si es capaz de hacer eso por alguien por quien se supone que está muy enamorada, quién nos dice que ahora su nueva ilusión va a ser igual. Aun así, sería hipócrita decir que no quería que estuvieran juntos; lo hace tan bien que solo piensas mediante la emoción y no por la razón. Me hubiera gustado que el final mostrara un beso entre la pareja, ya que decidieron que iba a terminar por ese lado la historia, debieron hacerlo completo.

On the run from her controlling father, a bratty young socialite tackles the highway between Miami and New York on her own. In the big city, she hopes, she’ll be free to run off with a famous treasure hunter and transition into a more exciting adult lifestyle. Dad isn’t ready to give up so easily, though, and when he flexes his financial muscle to spread her snapshot to all the major papers, her plans begin to come apart. Fortunate, then, that a capable (if down on his luck) reporter shares her seat during an early bus ride and takes an interest in her plight. The bones of this plot were echoed in 1953’s Roman Holiday, though the particulars may differ. In both, a naïve young woman yearns for escape from a stifling private life, crosses paths with a charismatic, ignoble writer on the scent of a big story and shares a little adventure under the public’s nose. It Happened One Night pairs Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in those roles, neither the studio’s first choice, and they find a certain degree of romance amidst all the near-misses and setbacks. She’s a wet blanket at first, all regal, reserved and snooty, but his spunky blend of carefree attitude and plucky, boyish charm gradually loosens her up. This is a grungy, relaxed role for Gable, one he freely embraces, and a surprising contrast to his debonair appearance in Gone with the Wind a few years later. Colbert is able to keep pace, outmatching her more worldly accomplice in a memorable hitchhiking how-to scene, but she’s generally just sniffing a trail while Gable’s the one sprinkling breadcrumbs. The pair’s exploits are light but engrossing. Much care is taken to keep things grounded and believable, which I appreciate. This story didn’t need to go over the top or make things complicated; the magic’s in that growing central rapport. Gable’s a cad and his pleasure in unsettling the prim, proper princess - particularly when she’s trying to voice a protest - is easy to share and appreciate. Together, they navigate some close calls, trade methods of transport, face the possibility of the road’s end, and grow more visibly attached by the minute. As they learn to enjoy being around each other, so do we. Even when pavement gives way to dirt and gravel, this ride’s a pleasant one.

Could not get into this past just a few memorable moments or sequences from the leads.

Like a lot of films of the era, it's more or less entirely dialogue, and the dialogue is hammy and overacted. But, for reasons I can't quite explain, I did quite enjoy it. It's exactly the sort of film you could do the ironing to because it doesn't take much concentration to watch.

Видно совсем не было нормальных фильмов на Оскаре, раз аж 5 штук дали проходной романтической комедии. Меня весь фильм напрягала какая-то стрёмная главная героиня. «Огни большого города» Чаплина были на голову выше и не получили ни одной статуэтки.