Every once in a while, a romantic comedy comes around that completely restores my faith in the genre. Interestingly enough, that once in a while happened in 1934... Oh, Frank Capra, how you tug at my heartstrings, how you pull chuckles from my tummy like grass from a soft lawn. I was very, very much looking forward to this highly popular, eternally revered film, and wow -- I was NOT disappointed. Brimming with silly sex appeal, a sweet sense of humor, a rather edgy disposition, and truly unforgettable chemistry between Claudette Colbert as a freewheeling young socialite and Clark Gable as a smarmy, clever, and thoroughly adorable newspaper reporter sharing a seat with her on a bus, It Happened One Night truly earned every single one of its five major (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) Oscars. Coming off of the wretched banality of Grand Hotel and Cavalcade, this movie was just such a charming relief. I don’t think the smile left my face for a single moment (though the film did begin to drag a bit near the end).
I am really surprised that I had never taken the time to watch this movie before. It has the zing of all my favorite screwball comedies -- Some Like it Hot, His Girl Friday, and Arsenic and Old Lace -- but it also has remarkable depth and believable character development. Many of the scenes in the movie are indelible parts of cinema history. I loved the donut-dunking scene and the tender night in the hay and the tremendously effective hitchhiking sequence, as well as the uproarious scene where Gable teaches Colbert how he undresses himself (“Now here’s where I mix it up a bit!”). It’s rare that I watch a film so completely lovable and so convincingly romantic, and these perfectly-executed scenes add up to a charming, silly, and near-perfect whole. I love the fact that although we never see the lovers -- brought together by madcap romantic desire and a set of incredibly adventurous circumstances -- engage in a kiss, the film ends with the suggestion of very kinky sex, with the killer combination of a roadside auto camp and a trumpet...
Clark Gable’s utter charm almost makes me look forward to Gone With the Wind. ALMOST. It Happened One Night earns a 9/10.
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