Review of It Happened One Night (1934) by James C — 12 May 2011
A romcom for the ages, and quite possibly the archetype for the genre. Interestingly, this low budget film was supposed to be a punishment for Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - show them what it was like to work in a low-budget film without the perks of the big studios.
What resulted was the first Oscar grand slam - this film got Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress (and incidentally Best Writer) in 1935. Some punishment. Besides the chemistry between the two lead characters, this film is notable for its wonderful lighting design and its very early or first use of a number of cinematic tricks like back projection, the wipe to indicate the passage of time and changing of the light to indicate changing attitude by a character.
This film is a must see for any cinema buff, but it it has also aged so well that you could load up the popcorn and take your significant other to it as a treat.
This review of It Happened One Night (1934) was written by James C on 12 May 2011.
It Happened One Night has generally received very positive reviews.
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