While this may not be interesting to some, I have a small anecdote I want to start my review with. I’ve been watching a lot of old films with my girlfriend recently because we want to see some origins in film. One of the movies we watched was The Passion of Joan of Arc from 1928, which neither of us winded up liking. After watching it, I jokingly asked her what her reaction would have been if when we first started dating I told her that was my favorite movie. She jokingly replied that she would have ran away. The point I’m getting towards is that I’ve found that with a lot of older movies, there’s such a disconnect there because of how far filmmaking and storytelling techniques have come, and so it’s hard to imagine some of them being anyone’s favorite movie ever. There are some exceptions that have stood the test of time, such as The Wizard of Oz, but for the most part you’d probably laugh at someone who says that their favorite movie is one from this era. It Happened One Night is one of the earliest examples of a movie I can think of where, if someone had told me it was their favorite movie ever, I would fully believe them and not even question it otherwise. It really is that good, even to this day.

Here’s an interesting fact to get some discussion going on the movie. It Happened One Night is the first movie to ever win in all five of the major Academy Award groups: Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Since then, there are only two other movies that have ever accomplished this feat. I’d mainly like to talk about these aspects of the movie, since it’s what’s best about the movie.

The movie has a really simple premise, yet it’s effective because of that. It’s a romantic comedy, and yet you’ll find that it really feels like a much different movie than most rom-coms today. We’re first introduced to Ellie, a spoiled rich girl who doesn’t get along with her father. Ellie has hastily married someone that her father disapproves of, and when her father threatens to keep her from her new husband, she runs away to try to get to him. This involves a cross-country roadtrip, all while her father arranges for a $10,000 bounty and a search party to find her. A man named Peter meets Ellie on the train, and quickly figures out who the woman is. Peter is a reporter, though, and so his interests lie in helping Ellie so that he can get a big story out of it. As is the case with a lot of these rom-coms, while the two initially have some sour feelings towards each other, a romance soon blooms in the time that they spend together. This is the kind of romantic story that we’ve seen in many forms since then, even in something like Shrek and Fiona’s story in the first Shrek movie, but for its time it was really quite something.

Now let’s briefly talk about the director of the movie, Frank Capra. While It Happened One Night is definitely one of Capra’s most notable works, you might also know him for some of his other classics, such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, or the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. The man has definitely proven that he’s a talented director, so I don’t even really need to sell you on his abilities. With It Happened One Night, he manages to create some really compelling scenes that stick with you. For example, there’s a hitchhiking scene that this movie is really famous for, and this is in no small part due to Capra’s directing. He’s also crafted some scenes that other films have mimicked, such as the ending wedding scene that is parodied in Spaceballs. He breathes some real life into this movie, and that’s ultimately what makes the movie as special as it is.

Then, we have our two stars of the movie. Clark Gable plays Peter, and Claudette Colbert plays Ellie. Both won Oscars for their performances, and it’s easy to see why. The two have such a tangible chemistry on-screen, and this was actually probably the thing I loved most about the movie. The two seem so natural together, and part of the reason the movie is so enjoyable is because it’s easy to love their characters so much. Interestingly enough, these two were far from the first actors/actresses to be picked for the role, but many others turned it down, and so eventually they were cast. The story with Colbert is most interesting, because she previously worked with Frank Capra on his movie For the Love of Mike, and she hated this movie so much that she didn’t want to work with Capra ever again. Both Gable and Colbert honestly didn’t seem to think much of this movie either, which is crazy because their performances never felt phoned in. Colbert actually didn’t even attend the Academy Awards ceremony because she didn’t ever think she would win for the role.

It’s so interesting that the people involved in It Happened One Night didn’t think much of it, because it turned out to be an amazing film and has stuck in the public conscience ever since. Aside from its big Oscar wins and glowing reviews, it’s also had plenty of influence on pop culture ever since. One of the most interesting examples of this is the Bugs Bunny cartoon, which takes a few elements from the movie and incorporates them into Bugs’s character. The movie has also inspired many similar stories, and it’s easy to see why since it’s such a timeless tale.

Honestly, I’m not being facetious or pretentious when I say that I think that It Happened One Night is one of the best movies of its genre. I’m one of those people that won’t give a positive review for a movie just because it’s old or considered a “classic” or whatever. If I don’t enjoy a movie or think it’s good, I’m going to be honest about it, but I honestly adored this movie. Like most people, it’s hard for me to sit through black-and-white movies, yet It Happened One Night is one of those movies I could easily watch again and again. It has a lot going for it, and so I’d recommend it to almost anyone. Give it a try, you might be surprised.

5/5