Frank Capra, It Happened One Night: Old School Reviews

It Happened One Night (1934)

Director: Frank Capra

Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert

Release Company: Columbia Pictures

MPAA Rating: NR

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Frank Capra's little screwball comedy, It Happened One Night, is a testament to economic artistry and to the power of word-of-mouth advertising. It's a film that nearly didn't get made and eventually was produced under severe restrictions.

Based on a Cosmopolitan magazine short story entitled "Night Bus" (look for homage to its source in early bus scenes), the screenplay was turned down by Columbia Pictures as too frothy and lightweight, until a revision transformed the character of spoiled heiress and changed the leading man into a newspaper reporter. Even after approval, Capra didn't have a cast set, but the film gods were in his favor; Clark Gable was finishing up his contract with MGM pictures, and Louis B. Mayer wanted to punish him by assigning him to Columbia Pictures for one movie, which was akin to sending him to Siberia. This made Gable initially negative, but he quickly warmed to the project and took on his first comedic role with gusto and had more fun than he'd ever had on a film.

Not so with Claudette Colbert, who never wanted to do Capra's project. Part of this was due to the failed 1927 film For the Love of Mike, in which Capra had directed her. She also didn't want to work with small-time Columbia Pictures, and she was planning to take a vacation soon to Sun Valley. Thinking she would price the project out of range, she offered to do it in a four-week shoot—if they doubled her standard fee of $25,000. Shocked that Columbia went for the offer, Colbert continually expressed displeasure on the set, but her edginess only adds to her effectiveness as the bored rich girl.

The overprotected and bored Ellie Andrews, confined to her wealthy father's yacht in southern Florida, jumps overboard and plans to escape to New York City to rejoin the worthless playboy King Westley (Jameson Thomas), who she officially married out of spite against her father. Knowing her father will spare no expense and will employ a hoard of detectives and use the media to thwart her plans, Andrews attempts to travel anonymously on the bus.

Soon she runs into down-and-out newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Gable), who figures out her guise. Of course, this is a romantic comedy, but at first the two don't like each other, despite Warne's initial flirtations. When she offers to pay him to keep her secret, he lays into her:

"You know I had you pegged right from the jump. Just a spoiled brat of a rich father. The only way you get anything is to buy it, isn't it? You're in a jam, and all you can think of is your money. It never failed, did it? Ever hear of the word humility? No, you wouldn't. I guess it would never occur to you to just say, 'Please, Mister, I'm in trouble, will you help me?' No, that would bring you down off your high horse for a minute. Well, let me tell you something, maybe it will take a load off your mind. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father. You're all a lot of hooey to me!"

These sentiments played well in the Depression era and continue to resonate with Americans today, who continue their love-hate relationship with the rich. Much has been written about Frank Capra's ability to capture American values cinematically, and It Happened One Night fits in with the canon, yet the film charms with some fine comic acting and clever dialogue.

Capra also takes the time to develop character, which many modern romantic comedies fail to do. Colbert's character would remain unrelatable had he left her as a stereotypical spoiled rich girl, but he unobtrusively includes glimpses of her backstory over breakfast that allows us to see her as a virtual prisoner and rebellious spirit against her pampered existence. She has been under continual surveillance from nannies and bodyguards, escaping only one previous time inside a department store, only to have her father drag the East River searching for her body.

The movie holds up remarkably and will be re-watched for many decades to come, long after Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan videos and DVDs have been relegated to the back shelves for dust gathering. Gable had been stereotyped as a leading dramatic actor until showing his, "Frankly, dear, I don't give a damn" attitude in this film, where he continually puts off Cobert's fears in a matter-of-fact fashion. The famous "Walls of Jericho" scene that severely reduced undershirt sales after Gable revealed his bare torso (done to speed up the film's pacing) is sexually teasing for its day and shows off Gable's tongue-in-cheek comic timing. You can bet that many watched Gable's feigned indifference to "learn" how to handle a difficult woman, and on the lighthearted side, took in his advice on how to handle an obnoxious bus passenger effectively and how to dunk a donut properly.

Colbert plays off Gable well, even though she was convinced the film was a disaster and the worst of her career. Credit Gable and Capra for capturing a fine performance from Colbert in spite of herself, as her coyness and slight indifference works quite well. She also pulls off the melodramatic romance professionally when required, and the camera work highlights her features well. Colbert didn't realize that she had given her definitive screen performance in Capra's film until she was awarded the Oscar that year. (Hers was one of five Academy Awards, one for each of the main categories.) Once again, Colbert was reluctant to even attend the ceremonies, planned another vacation, and nearly walked off the stage without saying a word, only to return to give Frank Capra credit.

This is only right because Capra makes this relatively lightweight film work with his impeccable eye for items that work and his expert planning, economizing the shoot from his usual 6-8 weeks for such a project down to four. As a result, the pacing was quicker than audiences were used to, with something interesting occurring in each frame. Thus, It Happened One Night stands as a significant landmark in cinema history, giving birth for more romantic comedies to come. Few of those that followed have worked as well.