Reelin' In The Years -- It Happened One Night (1934), directed by Frank Capra

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "Let It Happen", by Tame Impala

       The word ‘Oscar’ doesn’t get bandied about all that often round these parts. My personal interest, and the focus of this blog, has always been that of the genre film, and the Academy Awards rarely deigns to look in that direction, unless it’s to offload a couple of special effects trophies. Yet this is our Reelin’ In the Years tour, a showcase of a century of film, and it just wouldn’t feel right if I just continuously scrounge around for the more obscure movies just to maintain some kind of street cred. So if I’m going to take a trip into the heart of Oscar territory, I might as well swing for the fences with one of the only films in the history of the Academy Awards to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay in one sitting (the other two being One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs). Get them all out of the way now, you know?

       That film is It Happened One Night, based on the story by Samuel Hopkins Adams, written by Robert Riskin, and directed by Frank Capra. Claudette Colbert stars as Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has been locking horns with her father over her decision to marry handsome and totally on the level King Wesley against her father’s wishes. When Pops declares that he is going to force Ellie into an annulment, she literally jumps ship and swims to Miami, with the intent to take a bus up to New York and meet up with Wesley. Which sounds like a good idea, until you remember that she’s an heiress and thus totally incompetent. Enter down-on-his-luck journalist Peter Warne (Clark Gable) who, sensing the story that’ll get him back in the good graces of his editor, decides to help her out along. But who could have guessed that during this long trip to the Big Apple that certain feelings would begin to develop?

       Certainly not the movie industry, as they were so impressed with the ‘person of privilege is left on their own and must rely on a worldly lower-class person, which of course leads to romance’ angle that we’ve seen recycled numerous times over the years. Not only that, but Clark Gable’s character would go on to be a huge influence on the characterization of Bugs Bunny, in particular his eating of carrots. Hell, that old gag where someone tries to hitch-hike and it fails until you show off a little leg? That’s from this film as well. This is really the movie equivalent of a primary source in history class, so much of films would be all have a common origin from this film here, and much like in the case of Frankenstein this film gets a recommendation purely from a historical perspective.

       Man alive, but this movie felt like a slog to watch though. The thing about romantic comedies to me, especially ones that are based on unequal levels of power as this film is, is that they have to reach an equilibrium. The loner appreciates the value of friends, the asshole learns to be more compassionate, and so on. None of which happens here. Ellie starts off as a dim bulb heiress and stays that way throughout the entirety of the film, and it’s the same with Peter as this abrasive, verbally aggressive guy. While there are certainly segments that build up the relationship, and in those segments I’d say Colbert and Gable do have a certain chemistry, it never felt to me like these characters had really changed over the course of the story. Beyond the fact that they wanted to fuck each other rather than someone else.

       Speaking of romance, it might just be my modern sensibilities talking, but the romance in It Happened One Night comes across as really...creepy? Like there’s several moments throughout the movie where it feels like they're infantilizing Ellie, and when it’s coupled with romantic tension it doesn’t sit right. Plus there’s the fact that most of Peter’s dialogue towards her is dedicated to insults and demoralizing statements, in a joking manner or otherwise. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if, and that’s a definitive if, Ellie gave it as good as she got, thus establishing the relationship to be on even footing. Which it doesn’t, and so comes across as less of a romantic comedy and more of some kind of BDSM jailbait roleplay scenario. Or a classic example of ‘negging’, as the kids call it.

       It doesn’t do the actors all that well either. Clark Gable comes out pretty well, it’s pretty easy to see why he was one of the big names of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’, but Claudette Colbert...this film really doesn’t do her any favors in my opinion. Much as I described earlier she’s not especially shrewish at the beginning of the movie but she’s not especially down-to-earth by the end of the film either. She doesn’t sacrifice anything, she doesn’t suffer so she doesn’t grow as a character, maintaining this aura of vapidity through the entire course of the film. Which I admit is more an issue with the character of Ellie than Colbert as an actor, and Claudette Colbert had a storied career, but every time she was on screen I could feel myself getting more and more annoyed.

       As I said, as it regards film history It Happened One Night has a recommendation, but personally I just can’t give it the thumbs up. It’s one of those movies where I zoned out hard about a third of the way though and it never pulled me back in. Maybe if you’re in a relationship you’ll get something out of it, but I feel like if you can relate to a relationship where one partner is verbally abusive and the other is co-dependent then you might have bigger problems then what movie you're going to watch. Hopefully the next stop on our tour will be a bit more up-to-date.