“I I was wondering why women like you feel so dizzy. ” asks unemployed but cunning newspaper reporter Peter (Clark Gable) in “It Happened One Night.” He talks with Ellie (Claudette Colbert), his missing heir and potential travel companion, but he can’t get a clear answer.
What’s more, Ellie isn’t particularly giddy about the female scale of 1930s screwballdom. Admittedly, she’s a bit spoiled and not particularly wise in how she waits in public lines, and by her own admission she’s never been alone with a man before. It has never happened. But within those parameters, she is relatively calm and often resourceful – she knows how to get around hitchhiking, anyway – and Peter’s question seems particularly rhetorical. Masu. If future Gables asked their future spoiled but intelligent heirs the same question, it would be easier to answer. Perhaps their particular giddiness comes from the very nature of “It Happened One Night”, a romantic comedy that has continued to influence other films in the 90 years since its first film. Released in February 1934.
You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the contemporary rom-com discourse, which tends to revolve around When Harry Met Sally. Realistically, that’s probably the right decision. There are probably more than a few romantic comedy fans out there who say that movie is the oldest movie they’ve ever seen. (This situation is probably made worse by the large number of “best rom-coms of all time” lists that do not acknowledge any films made before their release in 1989.) Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” , which takes place during the same era as the Great Depression, may seem alien to such audiences. -Era setting and its early screwball pace. (While thrillers and action films have sped up, at least on an editorial level, over the past century, romantic comedies may be the genre that has slowed down the most, at least in terms of language.) The next big anniversary to celebrate. is its 100th anniversary.
It’s also one of those movies that might be hard to watch with fresh eyes nearly 100 years later because the plot mechanics are so familiar. Colbert’s Ellie runs away from her wealthy father in protest of his insistence that her recent elopement be annulled. She meets Peter Gable, who agrees to help reunite her with her husband in exchange for exclusive publication of her story. The two travel from Florida to New York, arranging various trips while arguing and joking, but they fall in love along the way.
The sheer amount of films that have taken inspiration, directly or indirectly, from Capra’s films is suitably dizzying. There are unofficial remakes, such as Sure Thing starring John Cusack, and comedies that borrow the structure of a multi-vehicle road trip for more platonic means, such as planes, trains, and cars. “It Happened One Night” feels like several well-known moments are being invoked, regardless of intent. For example, a scene in which the passengers on a bus sing along (as in “Almost Famous”) or a scene in which a bride leaves in a hurry just before the wedding (as in “The Graduate,” in which there is an ennui afterword) Etc. Even better if you know its ancestors without worries). The exchange between Gable and the bus driver that doesn’t stop you from saying, “Oh yeah?” It was stolen by the high school thriller film Brick, despite taking its inspiration from noir rather than screwball. A character as huge as Bugs Bunny was cut from this movie. His trademark carrot-munching is a copy of Gable’s eccentric (if decidedly health-conscious) habits here. The fact that this film swept the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress, giving it 5 out of 5 stars, is a rare decision at the Oscars, and it is outdated. It seems more like a visionary idea.
Of course, just as you can’t convince someone to like a real-life romance, you can’t convince them to like a romantic comedy. In any case, it’s not the genre-defining influence of It Happened One Night that makes it such a great movie. . It’s the opposite. The impact comes from how great it is and how easy Capra and his star make it look. The hitchhiking scene where Colbert uses one foot to bring the car to a screeching halt is perhaps the most famous image and laugh. And with just as many laughs, it’s also worth remembering how many other memorable images Capra created. It’s a story with only two main characters. Peter and Ellie share a hotel room for the first time, hanging makeshift “Walls of Jericho” blankets on strings to give each other privacy, and the rain streaks against the darkened windows turning silver. The characters begin to look more vulnerable than they seem to be from this world. Their isolated silhouettes. Later, a similar effect occurs as the two move through the forest, with a dim light shining on a nearby river, as their relationship grows closer (though not entirely physical). Still later, in another motel scene where Ellie sincerely confesses her love and Peter rejects her, the drearier, whiter lighting emphasizes the discomfort. The black-and-white cinematography by Joseph Walker (who shot His Girl Friday, The Awful Truth, It’s a Wonderful Life, etc.) means that some rom-coms look aesthetically pleasing beyond the star’s beauty. It’s a reminder of how little we have to offer. .
Gable and Colbert are beautiful, to be sure, but it’s surprising how much raw emotion can sneak in between the banter. Watching the movie again, I was struck by how angry Gable is at the end, when her new lover appears to have returned to her first husband. His furious disappointment was neither entirely comical nor entirely melodramatic. It feels like the honest rant of a man who thought things were going in his favor, especially in the first scene where he announces in a cheerful, confident, raspy voice that his soon-to-be former employer This is in contrast to the attitude of
So it’s not just a matter of this movie calling it a first. Never mind the other road trip pictures and fast-talking journalists, there have been so many comedy romances before this movie that it’s probably not possible. Far from inventing the romantic comedy, it crystallizes much about both the lofty genre and the real-life heartthrob on which it’s based. How love justifies fickle decisions (and makes past ones seem even more fickle) and how much unacknowledged longing comes from the other side. Makeshift wall sides can feel more intense than a traditional clinch. These are all sentiments that can and have been codified into the screenwriter’s rituals, and the characters may even argue about it along the way. It Happened One Night utilizes the new rhythm of his screwball comedy to maintain honesty. Even that self-reference feels like a confession. It’s fitting, then, that the film concludes Peter’s question about the dizzy woman with an indirect answer of his own, interrupting her angry confession of love to Ellie. I’m a little dumb myself! ”
