It Happened One Night
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| It Happened One Night | |
|---|---|
 Original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Frank Capra Harry Cohn |
| Written by | Samuel Hopkins Adams (story) Robert Riskin (screenplay) |
| Starring | Clark Gable Claudette Colbert Walter Connolly |
| Music by | Howard Jackson Louis Silvers |
| Cinematography | Joseph Walker |
| Editing by | Gene Havlick |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 22, 1934 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $325,000 (est.) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
It Happened One Night is a 1934 Screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, 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). The plot was based on the story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. It Happened One Night was one of the first film romantic comedies created after the MPAA began enforcing the 1930 production code in 1934. The final title is an oddity, as the movie takes place over several nights and none is particularly key to the plot.
The film was the first to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), a feat that would not be matched until One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and later by The Silence of the Lambs (1991). In 1993, It Happened One Night was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
It was remade as a 1956 musical comedy, You Can't Run Away from It, starring Jack Lemmon and June Allyson.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Colbert) marries fortune-hunter "King" Westley (Jameson Thomas) against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father (Walter Connolly). He retrieves his daughter before the marriage can be consummated, but then she runs away, leaping off the side of the family yacht.
Boarding a bus to New York City, she meets fellow passenger Peter Warne (Gable), an out-of-work newspaper reporter. He recognizes her and gives her a choice: if she will give him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with King, otherwise he will tell her father where she is and collect the reward. She agrees.
Various adventures follow. When they have to hitchhike, Peter claims to be an expert on the subject. When nothing he tries works, eventually, out of frustration, he ends up thumbing his nose at passing cars. The sheltered Ellie then shows him how it's done. She stops the next car dead in its tracks by lifting up her skirt and showing off a shapely leg (see image below).
One night, when they are nearing the end of their journey, Peter leaves to make some arrangements. The owners of the auto court in which they are staying see that his car is gone and assume he has left without paying. They roust Ellie out of bed and kick her out. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie calls her father, who is so relieved to get her back that he agrees to let her have her way. Ellie has fallen in love with Peter, but she thinks he betrayed her for the reward money, so she agrees to have a second, formal wedding with King. Meanwhile, Peter believes he's the one who's been double-crossed.
Peter gets in touch with Ellie's father to settle up. Mr Andrews offers him the large reward promised, but Peter will have none of it. He just wants to be paid $39.60 for the expenses incurred on the trip. Intrigued, the father badgers the reporter until he gets the truth: Peter loves Ellie (though he thinks he's out of his mind to do so). Peter leaves with the check he asked for.
While walking his daughter down the aisle, Andrews tells her what he has found out and encourages her to run off again, telling her there is a car waiting for her out back; at the last moment, she does. Her father pays off Westley, who agrees to have the marriage annulled, enabling Ellie to marry Peter.
[edit] Cast
As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):[1]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clark Gable | Peter Warne |
| Claudette Colbert | Ellie Andrews |
| Walter Connolly | Alexander Andrews |
| Roscoe Karns | Oscar Shapeley, an annoying bus passenger who tries to pick up Ellie |
| Jameson Thomas | "King" Westley |
| Alan Hale | Danker |
| Arthur Hoyt | Zeke |
| Blanche Friderici | Zeke's wife |
| Charles C. Wilson | Joe Gordon |
A full cast and production crew list is too lengthy to include, see: IMDb profile. [1]
[edit] Production
Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. However, they established a friendly working relationship and found that the script was no worse than those of many of their earlier films. Capra understood that they were unwilling participants and tried to lighten the mood by having Gable play practical jokes on Colbert, who responded with good humor.[2]
Both Gable and Capra enjoyed making the movie. Colbert however 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. However, 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!"[3] During the filming, Capra asserted, that Colbert "fretted, pouted and argued... she was a tartar, but a cute one."[4]. After her acceptance speech at the Oscars ceremony, she went back on stage and thanked Capra for making the film.[5]
The sensibilities of the time played a role in some of the key scenes. Riskin specifically wrote scenes where throughout the film, Peter hangs a blanket over a rope between their beds for Ellie to have some privacy, calling it "the Walls of Jericho". The end of the film has a telegram from Peter who has run off with Ellie as they both await news of the annulment with Westley, in part, it says, "the walls of Jericho are starting to topple". The final scene depicts an auto court and the couple who manage it discussing how they wonder if the two people they have just rented a room to are really married, because the young man asked for a rope, a blanket and a trumpet. The husband tells his wife he knows they are married because he saw the license. The scene closes with a trumpet sounding, the "Walls of Jericho" falling and the lights going off in the room in which Peter and Ellie are staying. Due to the strictures of the time, the device was the only plausible one that would be acceptable to a "general" audience.
[edit] Casting
Neither Gable nor Colbert were the first choices to play the lead roles. Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were originally offered the roles, but each turned the script down, and Loy later noted that the final version bore little resemblance to the script she and Montgomery were offered.[6] Miriam Hopkins and Margaret Sullavan also each rejected the part.[7] Constance Bennett was willing to play the role if she could produce the film herself, however Columbia Pictures would not allow this. Then Bette Davis wanted the role,[8] but was under contract with Warner Brothers and Jack Warner refused to loan her.[9] Carole Lombard was unable to accept, because the filming schedule conflicted with that of Bolero.[10] In addition, Loretta Young also turned it down.[11]
Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, who initially refused the role.[12] Colbert, whose first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), had been directed by Frank Capra and was such a disaster that she vowed to never make another agreed to appear in It Happened One Night only when her salary was doubled to $50,000 and on the condition that her part be completed in four weeks so she could take an already planned vacation.[13] According to legend, Gable was loaned to Columbia Pictures, then considered a minor studio, as punishment for refusing role at his own studio; however, this has been refuted by more recent biographies. MGM did not have a project ready for Gable and was paying him $2,000 per week, under his contract, to do nothing. Louis B. Mayer loaned him to Columbia for $2500 per week, making a $500 per week profit.[2]
[edit] Reception
After filming was completed, Colbert complained to her friend, "I just finished the worst picture in the world."[14][3] In 1935, after her Academy Award nomination, Colbert decided not to attend the presentation and instead, planned to take a cross-country train trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train, which had not left the station, and take her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit that she had Paramount Pictures costume designer Travis Banton make for her trip.[15]
[edit] Awards
- Best Picture - Columbia Pictures (Harry Cohn, producer)
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Clark Gable
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Claudette Colbert
- Best Director - Frank Capra
- Best Writing, Adaptation - Robert Riskin
On 15 December 1996, Clark Gable's Oscar was auctioned off to Steven Spielberg for $607,500; Spielberg promptly donated the statuette to the Motion Picture Academy.[16] On 9 June, the following year, Colbert's Oscar was offered for auction by Christie's. No bids were made for it.
[edit] Popular culture
An urban legend has it that Gable had a profound effect on men's fashion, thanks to a scene in this movie. As he is undressing for bed, he takes off his shirt to reveal that he is bare-chested. Sales of men's undershirts across the country may have suffered a noticeable decline for a period following this movie.[17]
The unpublished memoirs of animator Friz Freleng's mention that this was one of his favorite films. It has been claimed that it helped inspire the cartoon character Bugs Bunny. Three things in the film may have coalesced to create Bugs: the personality of a minor character, Oscar Shapely, an imaginary character named "Bugs Dooley" mentioned once to frighten Shapely, and most of all, a scene in which Clark Gable eats carrots while talking quickly with his mouth full, as Bugs does.[18]
It was also remade into a Hindi movie called Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin starring Amir Khan and Puja Bhat directed by Mahesh Bhat. [19]
In an episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Asuka refers to the door between her room and that of Shinji as the "Walls of Jericho," with similar implications.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b It Happened One Night Full credits
- ^ a b Harris 2002, p. 112-114.
- ^ a b Pace, Eric. "Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, is Dead at 92." The New York Times, p. D21, July 31, 1996.
- ^ Hirschnor 1983, p. 87.
- ^ McBride 1992, p. 326.
- ^ Kotsabilas-Davis and Loy 1987, p. 94. Note: Loy described the first script she saw as "one of the worst she had ever read."
- ^ Wiley and Bona 1987, p. 54.
- ^ Weems, Erik. It Happened One Night - Frank Capra. Updated June 22, 2006. It Happened One Night - Frank Capra
- ^ Chandler 2006, p. 102.
- ^ McBride 1992, p. 303.
- ^ Loretta Young 1999 Retrieved: 14 November 2007.
- ^ Karney 1995, p. 252.
- ^ "All about Oscar." britannica.com.
- ^ "It Happened One Night." moviediva.com.
- ^ Sharon Fink. "Oscars: The Evolution of Fashion." St. Petersburg Times,24 February 2007.
- ^ Gable's Gold: Auction Cashes In On Hollywood Idol by Rosemary McKittrick
- ^ The Shirt off his Back. snopes.com
- ^ It Happened One Night, review by Tim Dirks
- ^ Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin
[edit] Bibliography
- Capra, Frank. Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971. ISBN 0-30680-771-8.
- Chandler, Charlotte. The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006. ISBN 0-7432-6208.
- Hirschnor, Joel. Rating the Movie Stars for Home Video, TV and Cable. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International Limited, 1983. ISBN 0-88176-152-4.
- Harris, Warren G. Clark Gable, A Biography. London: Aurum Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85410-904-9.
- Karney, Robyn. Chronicle of the Cinema, 100 Years of the Movies. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. ISBN 0-7513-3001-9.
- Kotsabilas-Davis, James and Loy, Myrna. Being and Becoming. New York: Primus, Donald I. Fine Inc., 1987. ISBN 1-55611-101-0.
- Michael, Paul, ed. The Great Movie Book: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference Guide to the Best-loved Films of the Sound Era. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1980. ISBN 0-13-363663-1.
- McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: Touchstone Books, 1992. ISBN 0-671-79788-3.
- Wiley, Mason and Bona, Damien. Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.
[edit] External links
- It Happened One Night at the Internet Movie Database
- It Happened One Night on Frank Capra & the Film
- "It Happened One Night" at Filmsite.org
- Review of DVD: It Happened One Night
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Cavalcade |
Academy Award for Best Picture 1934 |
Succeeded by Mutiny on the Bounty |
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