Review of It Happened One Night (1934) by Edith N — 27 Feb 2010

When the Walls of Jericho Were Believable.

This movie is in esteemed company. It, [i]One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest[/i], and [i]Silence of the Lambs[/i] share a record which no other movie seems likely to meet for some time. However, in 1934, this was the first. Deserving or not--and I'll hold forth on that again if anyone really wants to hear it--it was the first movie to sweep the Big Five Oscars. Robert Riskin won for Adapted Screenplay. Frank Capra won (his first) for Director. Clark Gable won (his only) for Actor. Claudette Colbert won (her only) for Actress. And the film won for Picture. Interestingly, this is the only one of the three unnominated for any other awards. Another interesting thing to consider is whether any of the lot could be made now. I don't mean remake--I don't want any of the lot to be remade; it would be blasphemy. However, such an innocent film probably couldn't be made the first time anymore.

Ellie Andrews (Colbert) has run away. She married famed airman King Westley (Jameson Thomas) in a secret ceremony, and her father (Walter Connolly) is holding her hostage on his yacht until he can convince her to let him get her marriage annulled. Instead, she leaps of the boat and swims to shore, pawning her watch to buy a bus ticket north to New York. On the road, she meets reporter Peter Warne (Gable), who recognizes her pretty quickly and takes her under his wing so he can get the story of her escape. She proves, pretty quickly, that she has no grasp of the Real World, and naturally, they hate each other. To lovers of movies, there is no doubt how it's going to end. However, there is the entire trip from Florida to New York to get through, with many adventures and misadventures on the way, with your standard spoiled rich girl interacting with the Little People whose lives she has never known and never had to know. Even at the time, it wasn't all that original, and not just because it's based on a short story.

On the other hand, it isn't a movie we'd see today. Leaving aside the issue of her secret marriage entirely, it's impossible to think that she would be able to get anywhere in secret. As soon as people recognized her, they would be able to call in for the reward, not waiting to reach a stop. She wouldn't be able to travel without ID anyway. It would be rather more like those modern scenes where the person is watching their own story unfold on CNN and turns up their collar in a very suspicious manner to avoid people's suspicions. And of course, there is that marriage. Even the sort of tycoon Ellie's father is supposed to be would by this point have resigned himself to the kind of life his daughter would lead. Heck, by the time Nicky Hilton married Elizabeth Taylor, his father had already married ZsaZsa Gabor. It isn't shocking anymore, and the idea that the couple has to be married to share a motel room is also out of date. It would only work as a period piece, and only just barely then.

The whole movie is full of little things like that. The most famous scene in the movie is Ellie's stopping a car while hitchhiking by showing her leg. That wouldn't get much notice these days, and the way Peter treats his supposed wife would, and not the good kind. (I wouldn't let a man marry my daughter after he told me someone should hit her every day!) On the other hand, maybe it's to our shame that something so innocent is no longer possible. Oh, I don't mean the casual mistreatment Gable dishes out, but the idea that, for example, rape is never a fear for her. She's being hit on in a way that makes her uncomfortable, but even when he pursues her physically later in the film, that doesn't matter--he'll leave her alone. There's a certain amount of trust people show; at one point, the pair stop at a motel and convince the owner to let them stay without paying right away because Gable tells him they'll be staying a week. Of course, they violate that trust, but you know he's going to go back and pay the man anyway.

This is not my favourite film. Heck, it isn't even my favourite film of 1934; I'd cheerfully give all five of its Oscars to [i]The Thin Man[/i], were it up to me. It isn't particularly outstanding in any real fashion, just charming. But it is, after all, charming, and I was startled that I hadn't reviewed it yet. And, indeed, I'll be watching it again at some point, without complaining even. I have fairly strict standards about what constitutes a Great Movie, and this simply isn't one of them. However, it meets my still-strict but lesser requirements as to what it takes to be a classic. It's been seventy-five years since this movie came out, and it still holds a place in people's hearts. It's not the Oscars which matter to most people, though they do affect its place in the history of cinema. However, the important thing is that it's a sweet, charming film worth coming back to over and over again.