It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night is a 1934 pre-Code American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite (Claudette Colbert) tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter (Clark Gable). The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the August 1933 short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. Classified as a "pre-Code" production, the film is among the last romantic comedies created before the MPPDA began rigidly enforcing the 1930 Motion Picture Production Code in July 1934. It Happened One Night was released just four months prior to that enforcement.[4]

For the album by Holly Cole, see It Happened One Night (album).

It Happened One Night
Original theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Capra
Produced byFrank Capra
Harry Cohn
Screenplay byRobert Riskin
Story bySamuel Hopkins Adams
Based on"Night Bus"
by Samuel Hopkins Adams
StarringClark Gable
Claudette Colbert
Music byHoward Jackson
Louis Silvers
CinematographyJoseph Walker
Edited byGene Havlick
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • February 22, 1934 (1934-02-22)
Running time
105 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$325,000[2]
Box office$2.5 million[3]

It has garnered critical acclaim and is widely hailed one of the greatest films ever made. It Happened One Night is the first of only three films (along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs) to win all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1993, It Happened One Night was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[5][6] In 2013, the film underwent an extensive restoration by Sony Pictures.[7][8]

Plot

Spoiled heiress Ellen "Ellie" Andrews has eloped with pilot and fortune-hunter King Westley against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father, Alexander Andrews, who wants to have the marriage annulled because he knows that Westley is really interested only in Ellie's money. Jumping ship in Florida, Ellie runs away and boards a Greyhound bus to New York City to reunite with her husband. She meets fellow passenger Peter Warne, a newspaper reporter who recently lost his job. Soon, Peter recognizes her and gives her a choice. If she gives him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees to the first option.

As they go through several adventures together, Ellie loses her initial disdain for Peter and they begin to fall in love. When the bus breaks down and they begin hitchhiking, they fail to secure a ride until Ellie displays a shapely leg to Danker, the next driver. When they stop en route, Danker tries to steal their luggage, but Peter chases him down and seizes his Model T. Near the end of their journey, Ellie confesses her love to Peter. The owners of the motel in which they stay notice that Peter's car is gone and so expel Ellie. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie telephones her father, who agrees to let her marry Westley. Meanwhile, Peter has obtained money from his editor to marry Ellie but he misses her on the road. Although Ellie has no desire to be with Westley, she believes that Peter has betrayed her for the reward money and so agrees to have a second, formal wedding with Westley.

On the wedding day, she finally reveals the whole story to her father. When Peter comes to Ellie's home, Andrews offers him the reward money, but Peter insists on being paid only his expenses, a paltry $39.60 for items that he had been forced to sell to buy gasoline. When Andrews presses Peter for an explanation of his odd behavior and demands to know if he loves her, Peter first tries to dodge the questions but then admits that he loves Ellie and storms out. Westley arrives for his wedding via an autogyro, but at the ceremony, Andrews reveals to his daughter about Peter's refusal of the reward money and tells her that her car is waiting by the back gate in case she changes her mind. At the last minute, just before she says "I do", she decides not to go through with the wedding. Ellie dumps Westley at the altar, bolts for her car, and drives away as the newsreel cameras crank.

A few days later, Andrews is working at his desk when Westley calls to tell him that he will take the financial settlement and not contest the annulment. His executive assistant brings him a telegram from Peter: "What's holding up the annulment, you slowpoke? The walls of Jericho are toppling!" That is a reference to a makeshift wall to give them privacy made of a blanket over a wire that was tied across the rooms that they slept in between them. With the annulment in hand, Andrews sends the reply, "Let 'em topple."

The last scene has Peter's battered Model T parked in a motor court in Glen Falls, Michigan. The mom-and-pop owners talk and wonder why, on such a warm night, the newlyweds (he had seen the marriage license) wanted a clothesline, an extra blanket, and the little tin trumpet that he had gotten for them. As they look at the cabin, the toy trumpet sounds a fanfare, the blanket falls to the floor, and the lights in the cabin go out.

Main cast

Production

Casting
The hitchhiking scene

Gable and Colbert were both not the first choice to play the lead roles. Miriam Hopkins first rejected the part of Ellie. Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were then offered the roles, but both turned down the script. Loy later noted that the final story as filmed bore little resemblance to the script that she and Montgomery had been given for their perusal.[9] Margaret Sullavan also rejected the part.[10] Constance Bennett was willing to accept the role if she could produce the film herself, but Columbia Pictures would not agree to that condition. Then, Bette Davis wanted the role,[11] but she was under contract with Warner Brothers, and Jack L. Warner refused to lend her.[12] Carole Lombard was unable to accept, because Columbia's proposed filming schedule would conflict with her work on Bolero at Paramount.[13] Loretta Young also turned it down.[14]

Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, who initially turned down the role.[15] Colbert's first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), had been directed by Capra and had been such a disaster that she vowed never to make another with him. Later, she agreed to appear in It Happened One Night only if her salary was doubled to $50,000 and if the filming of her role was completed in four weeks so that she could take her well-planned vacation.[16]

According to Hollywood legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a minor studio, as some kind of "punishment" for refusing a role at his own studio. That tale has been partially refuted by more recent biographies. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did not have a project ready for Gable, and the studio was paying him his contracted salary of $2,000 per week whether or not he worked. Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2,500 per week, hence netting MGM $500 per week while he was gone.[17] Capra, however, insisted that Gable was a reluctant participant in the film.[18]

Filming

Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. However, Capra understood their dissatisfaction and let screenwriter Robert Riskin rewrite the script.[17] Colbert, however, continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. Upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!"[19] Through the filming, Capra claimed, Colbert "had many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me", however, "she was wonderful in the part."[19]

It was partially filmed at Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, California.[20]

Restoration

In 2013 It Happened One Night was digitally restored. A new wet-gate master was produced by Sony Colorworks for scanning at 4K. The images were digitally treated at Prasad Corporation to remove dirt, tears, scratches, and other artifacts. Care was taken to preserve the original look of the film.[21]

Reception
Gable and Colbert in the film's trailer

After filming was done, Colbert complained to her friend, "I just finished the worst picture in the world."[19][22] Columbia appeared to have low expectations for the film and did not mount much of an advertising campaign to promote it.[23] Initial reviews, however, were generally positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes." He also described Colbert's performance as "engaging and lively" and Gable as "excellent".[24] Variety reported that it was "without a particularly strong plot", but "manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and directing."[25] Film Daily praised it as "a lively yarn, fast-moving, plenty humorous, racy enough to be tantalizing, and yet perfectly decorous."[26] The New York Herald Tribune called it "lively and amusing."[27] John Mosher of The New Yorker, however, panned it as "pretty much nonsense and quite dreary,"[28] which was probably the review Capra had in mind when he recalled in his autobiography that "sophisticated" critics had dismissed the film.[29]

Despite the positive reviews, the film only did so-so business in its initial run. However, after it was released to the secondary movie houses, word-of-mouth began to spread and ticket sales became brisk, especially in smaller towns where the film's characters and simple romance struck a chord with moviegoers who were not surrounded by luxury.[27] It turned out to be a major box office smash, easily Columbia's biggest hit to date.[30]

Rotten Tomatoes compiled 56 reviews of the film, both from the time and from subsequent years, to form a 98% "Certified Fresh" score and an average rating of 9.13/10. The consensus reads, "Capturing its stars and director at their finest, It Happened One Night remains unsurpassed by the countless romantic comedies it has inspired."[31]

In 1935, after her Academy Award nomination, Colbert decided not to attend the ceremony, feeling confident that she would not win the award, and instead planned to take a cross-country railroad trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train, which had not yet left the station, and take her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit which she had had the Paramount Pictures costume designer, Travis Banton, make for her trip.[32]

Academy Awards

The film won all five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated at the 7th Academy Awards for 1934:

AwardResultWinner
Best PictureWonColumbia Pictures (Frank Capra and Harry Cohn)
Best DirectorWonFrank Capra
Best ActorWonClark Gable
Best ActressWonClaudette Colbert
Best Writing, AdaptationWonRobert Riskin

It Happened One Night was the first film to win the "Big Five" Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing). As of 2019, only two other films have achieved this feat: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.[33] It Happened One Night was also the last film to win both lead acting Academy Awards until One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975.

On December 15, 1996, Gable's Oscar was auctioned off to Steven Spielberg for $607,500; Spielberg promptly donated the statuette to the Motion Picture Academy.[34] On June 9 of the following year, Colbert's Oscar was offered for auction by Christie's, but no bids were made for it.

Others

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Influence

It Happened One Night made an immediate impact on the public. In one scene, Gable undresses for bed, taking off his shirt to reveal that he is bare-chested. An urban legend claims that, as a result, sales of men's undershirts declined noticeably.[41] The movie also prominently features a Greyhound bus in the story, spurring interest in bus travel nationwide.[42]

The unpublished memoirs of animator Friz Freleng mention that this was one of his favorite films. It Happened One Night has a few interesting parallels with, and may have even inspired certain characteristics of, the cartoon character Bugs Bunny, who made his first appearance six years later, and who Freleng helped develop. In the film, a minor character, Oscar Shapely, continually calls the Gable character "Doc", an imaginary character named "Bugs Dooley" is mentioned once in order to frighten Shapely, and there is also a scene in which Gable eats carrots while talking quickly with his mouth full, as Bugs does.[43]

Remakes and adaptations

The film has inspired a number of remakes, including the musicals Eve Knew Her Apples (1945) starring Ann Miller and You Can't Run Away from It (1956) starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon, which was directed and produced by Dick Powell.[44]

It Happened One Night was adapted as a one-hour radio play on the March 20, 1939 broadcast of Lux Radio Theatre, with Colbert and Gable reprising their roles.[45] The screenplay was also adapted as a radio play for the January 28, 1940, broadcast of The Campbell Playhouse, starring Orson Welles (Mr. Andrews), William Powell (Peter Grant) and Miriam Hopkins (Ellie Andrews).[46][47]

It Happened One Night has been adapted into numerous Indian films. These include three Hindi adaptations: Chori Chori (1956), Nau Do Gyarah (1957) and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991),[48] one Bengali adaptation Chaoa Paoa (1959),[49] two Tamil adaptations: Chandrodayam (1966) and Kadhal Rojavae (2000),[48][50] and one Kannada adaptation Hudugaata (2007).[51]

The 1937 Laurel and Hardy comedy Way Out West parodied the famous hitchhiking scene, with Stan Laurel managing to stop a stage coach using the same technique.[52] Mel Brooks's film Spaceballs (1987) parodies the wedding scene. As she walks down the aisle to wed Prince Valium, Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is told by her father, King Roland (Dick Van Patten), that Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) forsook the reward for the princess's return and only asked to be reimbursed for the cost of the trip.[53]

Other films have used familiar plot points from It Happened One Night. In Bandits, (2001), Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) erects a blanket partition between motel room beds out of respect for Kate Wheeler's (Cate Blanchett's) privacy. He remarks that he saw them do the same thing in an old movie.[54] In Sex and the City 2, Carrie and Mr. Big watch the film (specifically the hitchhiking scene) in a hotel; later in the film Carrie uses the idea which she got from the film to get a taxi in the Middle East.

In "The Bogman of Letchmoor Heath", the second episode of the horror/comedy television series She-Wolf of London (1990-1991), lead characters Randi Wallace (Kate Hodge) and Ian Matheson (Neil Dickson) rent a motel room, and, uncomfortable with the lack of privacy afforded, Ian stretches a bed sheet like a curtain between the two beds. Ian makes reference to It Happened One Night but Randi is unfamiliar with the film, citing that she would rather "read a book."

Beginning in January 2014, the comic 9 Chickweed Lane tied a story arc to It Happened One Night when one of the characters, Lt. William O'Malley, is injured during World War II and believes himself to be Peter Warne. As he sneaks through German-occupied France, several plot points run parallel to that of It Happened One Night and he believes his French contact to be Ellen Andrews.[55]

See also

References
  1. "'It Happened One Night' (A)." British Board of Film Classification, March 13, 1934; retrieved November 18, 2014.
  2. Rudy Behlmer, Behind the Scenes, Samuel French, 1990 p 37
  3. "Box Office Information for 'It Happened One Night'." The Numbers; retrieved April 12, 2012.
  4. Brown 1995, p. 118.
  5. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  6. "National Film Registry." Archived March 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Library of Congress. Retrieved: October 28, 2011.
  7. "Restoring the Frank Capra Classic, It Happened One Night." CreativeCOW.net. Retrieved: April 16, 2014.
  8. "Colorworks completes brilliant 4K restoration of Frank Capra classic 'It Happened One Night'." Shoot, November 18, 2013. Retrieved: April 16, 2014.
  9. Kotsabilas-Davis and Loy 1987, p. 94. Note: Loy described the first script she saw as "one of the worst [that] she had ever read."
  10. Wiley and Bona 1987, p. 54.
  11. Weems, Erik. It Happened One Night – Frank Capra. Archived April 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine eeweems.com, April 2013. Retrieved: April 1, 2015.
  12. Chandler 2006, p. 102.
  13. McBride 1992, p. 303.
  14. "Loretta Young 1999." flickr.com. Retrieved: November 14, 2007.
  15. Karney 1995, p. 252.
  16. "All about Oscar." britannica.com. Retrieved: April 1, 2015.
  17. Harris 2002, pp. 112–114.
  18. Capra 1971, p. 164.
  19. Pace, Eric. "Claudette Colbert, unflappable heroine of screwball comedies, is dead at 92." The New York Times, July 31, 1996, p. D21.
  20. Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers. Windsor Publications. Page 112. ISBN 9780897812993.
  21. "Capra's classic 'It Happened One Night' restored in 4K". Randi Altman's PostPerspective. November 18, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  22. "Review: 'It Happened One Night'." moviediva.com, April 2005. Retrieved: December 7, 2009.
  23. Tueth, p. 20.
  24. Hall, Mordaunt (February 23, 1934). "Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable in a Merry Jaunt From Miami to New York". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  25. "It Happened One Night". Variety. New York. February 27, 1934. p. 17.
  26. "It Happened One Night". Film Daily. New York. February 23, 1934. p. 6.
  27. Mizejewski, p. 11.
  28. Mosher, John C. (March 3, 1934). "The New Yorker". New York. p. 67.
  29. Mizejewski, p. 12.
  30. McBride 1992, pp. 308–309.
  31. "It Happened One Night (1934)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  32. Sharon Fink. "Oscars: The Evolution of Fashion." St. Petersburg Times, February 24, 2007.
  33. "Awards." Archived January 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Retrieved: September 4, 2009.
  34. McKittrick, Rosemary. "Gable's Gold: Auction cashes in on Hollywood idol." Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine liveauctiontalk.com. Retrieved: December 7, 2009.
  35. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  36. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  37. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  38. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  39. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  40. "AFI's 10 Top 10: Top 10 Romantic Comedy". American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  41. "The shirt off his back." snopes.com, May 10, 2014. Retrieved: December 7, 2009.
  42. "Historical Timeline." Archived December 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Greyhound. Retrieved: October 14, 2011.
  43. Dirks, Tim. "Review: 'It Happened One Night'." filmsite.org. Retrieved: December 7, 2009.
  44. Dirks, Tim. "It Happened One Night (1934) ." Filmsite Movie Reviews. Retrieved: November 17, 2011.
  45. Si Steinhauser (March 20, 1939). "Kyser's Boss is Appreciative So Kay Gets Unexpected Raise". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 9. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  46. "The Campbell Playhouse: It Happened One Night". Orson Welles on the Air, 1938–1946. Indiana University Bloomington. January 28, 1940. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  47. "Sunday Radio Programs - Today's Best Bets". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (New York). January 28, 1940. p. 6B. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  48. Guy, Randor (September 11, 2014). "It happened to be a hit!". The Hindu. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  49. "Watch: Five iconic Suchitra Sen scenes from her best movies". Firstpost. January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  50. Padmanabhan, Savitha (January 21, 2000). "Film Review:Kadhal Rojavae". The Hindu. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  51. "Hudugaata". Sify. June 10, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  52. "Way Out West (1937)." Filmsite Review. Retrieved: October 14, 2011.
  53. Crick 2009, p. 158.
  54. Granger, Susan. "Bandits." All Reviews, 2001. Retrieved: October 14, 2011.
  55. McEldowney, Brooke. "9 Chickweed Lane." gocomics.com. Retrieved: April 29, 2014.

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Streaming audio

Awards
Preceded by
First film to achieve this		 "Big Five" Academy Award winner Succeeded by
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Preceded by
First film to achieve this		 Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Actress Succeeded by
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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