It Happened One Night

Every now and then I sneak a classic into my movie viewing. This time it was It Happened One Night, the 1934 winner of the Academy Awards Best Picture. In fact, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia, the movie won all 5 major categories (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), the first movie ever to do so, a feat that would not be repeated until 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

It Happened One Night is a sort of romantic comedy. It stars Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind, and who would have turned 107 years old in February) as Peter Warne, a charming reporter, and Claudette Colbert (Cleopatra) as Ellie Andrews, the eccentric daugher of a Wall Street banker.

Despite it's name, It Happened One Night spans several days. Colbert is fleeing New York to escape a wedding that she does not want to face. On the way she meets Gable on a bus. They butt heads at first, but because she's on the run, she has to keep a low profile and he helps her along the way. What she didn't expect to happen is to fall in love with him.

The relationship is a typical love-hate relationship. The humor is a bit dated, but still funny for its time. I enjoyed watching the old bus, the cars, and even the passing train (an old steam locomotive).

One thing Colbert did not know is that Gable is a reporter and he knows who she is and he knows he has a story to tell. Will be turn her in for the reward? Will he sell his story for the money? Or will he give it all up to be with her? These are the questions I was asking myself during the movie.

I gave this movie 4 stars. This is truely a classic, be it a lesser known classic. Many movies have followed this same plot, but they didn't star Clark Gable. The movie is a little over an hour and a half, so it's a good one to slip in to you movie viewing.