Review of It Happened One Night (1934) by Simeon D — 09 Jul 2010

It Happened One Night has agile pacing and is very sentimental, but seeing as Frank Capra invented sentimentalism it's automatically a classic. Claudette Colbert stars as a spoiled daughter of a famous millionaire who runs away after a quarrel with her father.

Clark Gable also stars as a recently fired newsman who find himself sitting next to Colbert in a bus. Being a pair of misfits and polar opposites, they travel to New York and encounter many misadventures that cause them to bond.

Obviously, they get together in the end; an ending that was surprisingly sexually suggestive. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert both are vibrant and full of energy, and make their uneven characters very likable.

The script was a sparse at times, but there were many lines and scenes (most notably the famous hitchhiking scene) that made me grin and make the film worth watching. Frank Capra's direction is very good, but I saw his other Best Picture winner You Can't Take It With You a week earlier and I can tell that the Academy gave that one the award because it dealt with strong moral issues, but I can't seem to figure out why this won Best Picture.

Personally I wasn't too crazy about the performances and the humor was sort of blunted by a lack of a musical score. Not either of the leads' or the director's best work, but still a romantic comedy classic.

81/100.