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It Happened One Night

1934 film by Frank Capra From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It Happened One Night
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For the album by Holly Cole, see It Happened One Night (album).

It Happened One Night is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite (Claudette Colbert) tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter (Clark Gable).

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The film's trailer

The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the August 1933 short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. Classified as a "pre-Code" production, the film was released just four months before the MPPDA began rigidly enforcing the Hays Code in July 1934.[4]

It is seen as one of the greatest films ever made and was the first of only three films (along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs) to win all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 1993, it was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6] In 2013, the film underwent an extensive restoration by Sony Pictures.[7][8] The film's copyright was renewed in 1962, and under current United States law it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2030.[9]

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Plot

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Wall Street heiress Ellie Andrews has eloped with glamorous pilot King Westley. Her father Alexander senses that Westley married Ellie for her money. Mr. Andrews sequesters Ellie on his Florida yacht while his lawyers arrange an annulment. However, Ellie breaks out and swims to shore, where she boards a Greyhound bus bound for New York City to reunite with Westley. Mr. Andrews makes headlines by putting out a $10,000 reward (equivalent to $235,050 in 2024) for her safe return.

On the bus, Ellie meets Peter Warne, a newly unemployed newspaper reporter. Peter is annoyed by Ellie, who expects special treatment and lacks practical life skills. However, he is drawn to Ellie's strong personality and helps her after a thief steals most of her money. During a scheduled stop in Jacksonville, Ellie misses the bus, having assumed that the driver would wait for her. Peter reads the headlines about Ellie's escape and stays behind to accompany her. He gives her a choice: if she gives him an exclusive on her story, he will help her get back to New York. If not, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees.

Because there are no more buses that day, Peter and Ellie rent a motel room together. Peter strings up a makeshift room divider between their respective beds, which he jokingly calls the "walls of Jericho". In the morning, Mr. Andrews' private detectives question Peter and Ellie. They evade the detectives by pretending to be a married couple having a stormy argument.

When the next bus ditches into a swamp, Peter and Ellie try hitchhiking. They argue about Ellie's privilege and Peter's cockiness, but begin to fall in love. Peter tries and fails to hail a series of cars, while Ellie succeeds on her first attempt by displaying a leg. However, the driver Ellie hails is a highwayman who drives away with their luggage. Peter chases him down and steals his car, allowing them to continue their journey.

At a motel in New Jersey, Ellie confesses her love to Peter, who is moved, but rebuffs her advances because he considers himself unworthy of Ellie as long as he remains unemployed. In the early morning, he drives to New York to sell his story to his old newspaper for $1,000. Because he leaves without Ellie, the motel concludes that Ellie is a loose woman and evicts her. Ellie believes that Peter has deserted her and calls her father to drive her home. On her way back, she passes by Peter, who realizes he is too late.

Mr. Andrews reluctantly arranges a second, formal wedding with Westley, but shortly before the ceremony, Ellie confesses to her father that she is in love with Peter. She resolves to marry Westley anyway after Peter reaches out to Mr. Andrews about a "financial" matter, which she assumes is the $10,000 reward. In reality, Peter just wants Mr. Andrews to reimburse him for his expenses from the trip, which come out to $39.60. Mr. Andrews is impressed by Peter's honesty and asks him whether he loves Ellie; after dodging the question several times, Peter admits that he loves her.

While walking Ellie down the aisle, Mr. Andrews reveals Peter's full story. He expresses his approval of Peter and says that if Ellie changes her mind, he will help her escape the wedding and pay Westley to go away. At the last minute, Ellie dumps Westley at the altar.

As Mr. Andrews predicted, Westley agrees to give up Ellie for $100,000. Peter, who is anxiously waiting for the annulment to go through before he can sleep with Ellie, telegrams Mr. Andrews that "the walls of Jericho are toppling". Mr. Andrews confirms that Peter can "let 'em topple". At the honeymooners' motor court, the owners hear a trumpet play and a blanket fall to the floor in the couple's cabin, after which the lights go out.

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Cast

Uncredited cast
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Production

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Casting

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Gable and Colbert in a production still

Neither Gable nor Colbert was the first choice to play the lead roles. Miriam Hopkins rejected the part of Ellie. Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were then offered the roles, but both turned down the script. Loy later noted that the final story as filmed bore little resemblance to the script that she and Montgomery had been given.[10] Margaret Sullavan also rejected the part.[11] Constance Bennett was willing to accept the role if she could produce the film herself but Columbia Pictures would not agree to that condition. Bette Davis then wanted the role[12] but she was under contract with Warner Brothers and Jack L. Warner refused to lend her.[13] Carole Lombard was unable to accept because Columbia's proposed filming schedule would conflict with her work on Bolero at Paramount.[14] Loretta Young also turned it down.[15]

Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, who initially turned down the role.[16] Her first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), had been directed by Capra and was such a disaster that neither wanted to work with the other again.[17][18] Later, she agreed to the role only if her salary was doubled to $50,000 and if her scenes were completed in four weeks so that she could take a planned vacation.[19]

According to Hollywood legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a minor studio, as punishment for refusing a role at his own studio. That tale has been partially refuted by more recent biographies. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did not have a project ready for Gable and the studio was paying him his contracted salary of $2,000 per week whether he worked or not. Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2,500 per week, hence netting MGM $500 per week while he was gone.[20] Capra, however, insisted that Gable was a reluctant participant in the film.[21]

Filming

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The hitchhiking scene

Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. Capra understood their dissatisfaction and let screenwriter Robert Riskin rewrite it.[20] Colbert continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. Upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!"[22] Capra claimed that Colbert "had many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me," but "was wonderful in the part."[22] Part of the film was made on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, California.[23]

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Reception

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Frame from the film's trailer

After filming was done, Colbert complained to a friend that she had "just finished the worst picture in the world."[22][24] Columbia appeared to have low expectations for the film and did not mount much of an advertising campaign for it.[25]

The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall.[26] Initial reviews were generally positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes". Hall described Colbert's performance as "engaging and lively" and Gable as "excellent". Variety reported that it was "without a particularly strong plot" but "manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and directing".[27] Film Daily praised it as "a lively yarn, fast-moving, plenty humorous, racy enough to be tantalizing, and yet perfectly decorous".[28] The New York Herald Tribune called it "lively and amusing".[29]

John Mosher of The New Yorker panned it as "pretty much nonsense and quite dreary", which was probably the review Capra had in mind when he recalled in his autobiography that "sophisticated" critics had dismissed the film.[30][31] Despite the positive reviews, the film was only moderately successful in its initial run. After it was released to secondary movie houses, ticket sales became brisk, especially in smaller towns where the film's characters and simple romance struck a chord with moviegoers who were not surrounded by luxury.[29] It turned out to be a major box office smash, easily Columbia's biggest hit until the late 1980s.[32] During its initial release, the film earned $1 million in theater rentals from the United States and Canada.[33]

Rotten Tomatoes compiled 108 reviews of the film to form a 98% score and an average rating of 9.1/10. The consensus reads, "Capturing its stars and director at their finest, It Happened One Night remains unsurpassed by the countless romantic comedies it has inspired".[34] The film holds a score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 16 critics.[35]

Colbert was nominated for an Academy Award, but decided not to attend the ceremony since she felt she would not win and planned to take a cross-country railroad trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train, which had not yet departed, to bring her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit which she had had the Paramount Pictures costume designer, Travis Banton, make for her trip.[36]

Academy Awards

The film won all five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated at the 7th Academy Awards for 1934:

More information Award, Result ...

It Happened One Night was the first film to win the "Big Five" Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Writing). As of 2025, only two films have matched this feat: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.[37]

On December 15, 1996, Gable's Oscar was auctioned off for $607,500 to Steven Spielberg, who donated the statuette to the Motion Picture Academy.[38] In June of the following year, Colbert's Oscar was offered for auction by Christie's but attracted no bids.[39]

Others

The film was included in the following American Film Institute lists:

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Influence

It Happened One Night made an immediate impact on the public. In one scene, Gable undresses for bed, taking off his shirt to reveal that he is bare-chested. An urban legend claims that, as a result, sales of men's undershirts declined noticeably.[45] The movie also prominently features a Greyhound bus in the story, spurring interest in bus travel nationwide.[46]

The unpublished memoirs of animator Friz Freleng mention that this was one of his favorite films. It Happened One Night has a few parallels with, and may have even inspired certain characteristics of, the cartoon character Bugs Bunny, who made his first appearance six years later, and who Freleng helped develop. In the film, a minor character, Oscar Shapely, continually calls the Gable character "Doc," an imaginary character named "Bugs Dooley" is mentioned once in order to frighten Shapely, and there is also a scene in which Gable eats carrots while talking quickly with his mouth full, as Bugs does.[47]

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Restoration

In 2013 It Happened One Night was digitally restored. A new wet-gate master was produced by Sony Colorworks for scanning at 4K. The images were digitally treated at Prasad Corporation to remove dirt, tears, scratches, and other artifacts. Care was taken to preserve the original look of the film.[48]

Remakes and adaptations

The film has inspired a number of remakes, including the musicals Eve Knew Her Apples (1945) starring Ann Miller and You Can't Run Away from It (1956) starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon, which was directed and produced by Dick Powell.[49]

It Happened One Night was adapted as a one-hour radio play on the March 20, 1939 broadcast of Lux Radio Theatre, with Colbert and Gable reprising their roles.[50] The screenplay was also adapted as a radio play for the January 28, 1940, broadcast of The Campbell Playhouse, starring Orson Welles (Mr. Andrews), William Powell (Peter Warne) and Miriam Hopkins (Ellie Andrews).[51][52]

It Happened One Night has been adapted into numerous Indian films. These include three Hindi adaptations: Chori Chori (1956), Nau Do Gyarah (1957) and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991),[53] one Bengali adaptation Chaoa Paoa (1959),[54] two Tamil adaptations: Chandrodayam (1966) and Kadhal Rojavae (2000),[53][55] and one Kannada adaptation Hudugaata (2007).[56]

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In popular culture

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The 1937 Laurel and Hardy comedy Way Out West parodied the famous hitchhiking scene with Stan Laurel managing to stop a stage coach using the same technique.[57] A Life Less Ordinary (1997) by Danny Boyle has a plot that shares similarities with It Happened One Night and clearly references the movie in its own hitchhiking scene.[58]

Mel Brooks's film Spaceballs (1987) parodies the wedding scene. As she walks down the aisle to wed Prince Valium, Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is told by King Roland (Dick Van Patten) that Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) forsook the reward for the princess's return and only asked to be reimbursed for the cost of the trip.[59]

Other films have used familiar plot points from It Happened One Night. In Bandits (2001), Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) erects a blanket partition between motel room beds out of respect for Kate Wheeler's (Cate Blanchett's) privacy. He remarks that he saw people do the same thing in an old movie.[60] In Sex and the City 2, Carrie and Mr. Big watch the film (specifically the hitchhiking scene) in a hotel; later in the film Carrie uses the idea which she got from the film to get a taxi in the Middle East.

In "The Bogman of Letchmoor Heath", the second episode of the horror/comedy television series She-Wolf of London (1990–1991), lead characters Randi Wallace (Kate Hodge) and Ian Matheson (Neil Dickson) rent a motel room, and, uncomfortable with the lack of privacy afforded, Ian stretches a bed sheet like a curtain between the two beds. Ian makes reference to It Happened One Night but Randi is unfamiliar with the film, remarking that she would rather "read a book".

Beginning in January 2014, the comic 9 Chickweed Lane tied a story arc to It Happened One Night when one of the characters, Lt. William O'Malley, is injured during World War II and believes himself to be Peter Warne. As he sneaks through German-occupied France, several plot points run parallel to that of It Happened One Night and he believes his French contact to be Ellen Andrews.[61]

It Happened One Night has been cited as an influence on several other films. Films that have been compared to the picture for their similar premises include Love on the Run (1936),[62] The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941), A Lady Takes a Chance (1943), Roman Holiday (1953),[63] The Sure Thing (1985),[64] Spaceballs (1987),[65] Runaway Bride (1999),[66] Forces of Nature (1999),[67] and Leap Year (2010).[68]

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See also

References

External links

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