“It Happened One Night is, perhaps, a bit the victim of its own success. Watching it now, it may seem too familiar. The down-to-earth (and down-on-his-luck) male lead, the spunky-but-spoiled young woman on the run from her privilege. The lies and deceit and misunderstandings. The gradual bonding between the leads, discovering they can learn from each other. There's even a last-minute change of mind on a wedding day!
“There's a reason, of course, why the basic template of It Happened One Night was repeated so often, more so than that of many other romantic comedies of the 1930s: it works. Clark Gable is irresistible, Claudette Colbert is adorable, and so many of the scenes stay with you. There's the hitch-hiking scene, of course, in which Gable's thumbs turn out to be no match for Colbert's leg; but also the dunking lesson, the bus passengers singing The Dancing Trapeze, and, of course, The Walls of Jericho. My own favorite scene is the one wherein Ellie - Colbert's character - turns out to have unexpected acting skills, versions of which you can find in dozens (if not hundreds) of later movies and television shows. I'm not sure I believe that the sight of Gable's naked chest was really enough to crater sales of undershirts, but there's no denying the film's influence.
“Romantic comedies are a popular genre to mock or denigrate. Fluff for girls; not serious cinema. The fact that It Happened One Night is one of the few movies to have won all "big four" Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director for Frank Capra, and both best Actor awards) shows that the genre was not always so disrespected - and that it does, in fact, include masterpieces.” ~ Hedwig van Driel
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