It Happened One Night (1934) | Movies to See Before You Die

Clark Gable It Happened One Night One Night
It Happened One Night

Accessibility is one of the things I’ve been harping on about with my entries in this Movies to See Before You Die series, focusing on movies that can serve as introductions for anyone who wants to see more black and white films, more arthouse stuff etc, but maybe doesn’t know where to start. It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life) nearly a century ago, is a perfect way to start watching “old” movies, if you haven’t seen very many of them.

It Happened One Night is the story of an heiress (comedic genius Claudette Colbert) who is separated by fantastical circumstance from her new husband (Walter Connolly). The only way she’s going to get back to him in one piece is with the help of a clever, witty, relentlessly energetic news reporter (Clark Gable at his charismatic best, showing chops for comedy, drama, romance, and everything in between). Their relationship goes the way you would imagine it would, from antagonistic to romantic over a wild road movie plot that doesn’t slow down on ever-evolving chaos or humorous dialog.

Some of the slang might be dated, as well as some social attitudes. It’s impossible for a movie that is nine decades old to avoid some anachronisms. Where the appeal of It Happened One Night really counts is in our two protagonists, how they work together and against each other, and what happens to them at the end of everything. It Happened One Night didn’t invent the rom com (it might have been Sherlock Jr. or Girl Shy). What it did do was help perfect a formula that you can very easily see in many of the movies being made today.

Being quick on your feet, likable, and above all else funny can be relatively timeless qualities in the right vehicles. It Happened One Night is one of those vehicles. The film may look like some fast-talking fragment of a bygone era, but the language, physical performances, and comedic devices employed by screenwriter Robert Riskin are all very easy to understand and enjoy in the present.

It Happened One Night is also quite charming in its tone and execution. You really wouldn’t need to change anything that fundamentally matters to make this movie today. The film was a hit upon release, earning rave reviews, and becoming the first of only three movies to win all five major Academy Awards. I’m not surprised. It’s a movie I didn’t get to see until my early 20s, but it was instantly amiable and only got more appealing as it went on. If you really love movies, there are certain films you should at least be willing to try. It Happened One Night is one of these, effortlessly funny where it will always count.

It Happened One Night is still one of the best comedies ever made, and that’s something that virtually any human being who likes comedy and romance in their entertainment can appreciate.

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