“It Happened One Night” is a romantic comedy, from before the ghastly term “RomCom” was coined, based on the short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams and directed by Frank Capra.
It’s
a sweet comedy about heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), a spoiled young
woman who after having just tied the knot with gold digging society aviator,
King Westley (Jameson Thomas), she is whisked away to her father's yacht and
out of King's clutches but Ellie jumps ship at the first opportunity and
eventually winds up on a bus headed back to her husband.
It’s
when she’s on the bus that she meets an attractive worldly newspaper reporter
Peter Warne (Clark Gable).
The
interaction between the two is both romantic and humorous and is the classic
portrayal of what may be called “sexual tension.”
Reluctantly
she must accept his help after he makes her realize that her wealthy background
cannot carry her through as a human being in the real world, so he takes care
of her but doesn’t take advantage of her, but her choices are limited so she
has to stick with him until he gets her back to her husband, or he'll blow the
whistle on Ellie to her father (Walter Connolly), either way, Peter gets what he
wants a really great scoop.
This
is a must-see for everyone who loves old movies, and entertaining for all, but
I suspect that if you have a love of classic films you would already have seen it,
so watch it again.
There
are some interesting items of trivia surrounding the film, but I have three
particular favourites,
1,
Ellie and Peter are forced to hitchhike and Gable stands at the edge of the
road and his wisecracking posture is said to have been the inspiration for the
cartoon character Bugs Bunny.
2,
In the Greyhound Bus scene, Frank Capra, the director, makes a cameo appearance
as one of the passengers on the bus singing the third couplet of “The Daring
Young Man on the Flying Trapeze”
