Year: 1934
Director: Frank Capra
Country: US
Language: English
Over the years I've soured on the filmography of Frank Capra. Most of his pictures, especially post-war, were far too sentimental. With It's A Wonderful Life he came off as dishonest and condescending; it was a picture nobody wanted at the time and it showed when the film wasn't able to make its money back until the 70's when it was presented by television stations around Christmas-time. Two films, It Happened One Night and Arsenic and Old Lace, are the exception to my distaste for Capra-corn. I will review the former now.
A spoiled heiress (Claudette Colbert), running away from her family, is helped by a man (Clark Gable) who's actually a reporter looking for a story. Throughout their journey it seems like they are slowly falling in love, but the reporters intentions are suspicious at best.
The first film to win the Oscar "grand slam" (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Screenplay) It Happened One Night is credited as being the first screwball romantic comedy. Unfortunately both stars were displeased with the picture as it was in production, with Colbert complaining on set everyday and eventually telling a friend "I just finished making the worst picture I've ever made". History would be more kind as it is almost universally acknowledged as a masterpiece for the ages. Certainly just the fact that I decided to review the picture, which is 81 years old as of 2015, will tell you much about its positive legacy.
Director Frank Capra, the great American cheerleader, assures everyone that his fair country’s wide-open spaces, while not without peril, are full of fellowship and democracy. It is an escapist flick that, astoundingly, treats both genders with more respect than the majority of modern comedies. While It Happened One Night is a Depression Era movie through and through, with images of people looking for jobs and hints of hunger & class division, it remains incredibly sexy. Colbert and Gable do not need to have sex nor do they need to break the damned Hays code to demonstrate their incredible chemistry.
Joseph Walker’s cinematography can be both gritty and gauzy, focusing on tiny confined spaces and on vast open one. Capra's desire for lengthy takes improves the quality of the film as it allows for each gag to set in quite comfortably. The characters are certainly American; Colbert represents a democratic capitalistic ideology, but this does not deter from the story. Much of the dialogue, including the famous "arguing married couple" scene in the middle of the picture, is hilarious even after multiple viewings. Praise it! 5/5
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