'It Happened One Night'

The screen crackles with chemistry between old-school hunk Clark Gable and the elfin Claudette Colbert in the early screwball comedy It Happened One Night. A great escapist comedy for Depression-era audiences, the movie caused a sensation when Gable took off his shirt on camera (racy!) and Colbert displayed a primly stocking-clad leg.

Don’t miss the fabled “Walls of Jericho” scene where a blanket on a clothesline separates the two (unmarried!) stars when they stay in a “motor court” cabin on the highway.

Bratty heiress Ellie Andrews (Colbert) escapes from her tycoon father, who’s trying to annul her impulsive marriage to a stunt aviator and playboy. To avoid her father’s detectives, Ellie sneaks onto a bus bound for New York. Her frantic father (Walter Connolly) splashes her photo on front pages across the country to find her.

Reporter Peter Warne (Gable), recently fired from his newspaper job, happens to take the same bus. It doesn’t take him long to figure out he’s got the missing heiress and the story of the year on his hands – if he can hold onto her.

The two start sparring immediately and of course, start to fall for each other as the adventure unwinds. The bus breaks down, bridges wash out, they lose all their money, they sleep in a farm field, they thumb a ride – and it’s a treat to watch them every minute.

Roscoe Karns puts in a fun performance as a slick salesman riding the bus, and Connolly is all bluster and paternal concern as Ellie’s father -- but this is Gable’s movie all the way through. He demonstrates what made him a screen idol here – great good looks and an easy, natural presence on camera. He’s especially charming as he instructs the sheltered heiress on doughnut-dunking and hitchhiking technique.

Colbert’s a touch more stiff as the spoiled rich girl, but she becomes more engaging as Gable loosens her up, an effect heightened by director Frank Capra’s innovative lighting of the actress’s face.

The film was a fairly low-budget affair, and neither star wanted to make it – in fact, MGM star Gable was on loan to Columbia for this film, retaliation from his studio for off-screen bad boy behavior. Colbert was also annoyed that her studio, Paramount, loaned her to the then less-prestigious Columbia. Nevertheless, the movie was a surprise hit, and won all three top Oscars for 1934 – best picture, best actor and best actress.

Frank Capra was among the most influential and imitated of early film directors. The Italian-born Capra began directing silent films, and with It Happened One Night, helped pioneer a number of sound and camera techniques in this early "talking picture."

He went on to direct some of the most successful and best-loved early movies, including It's a Wonderful Life, Arsenic and Old Lace and his acclaimed "common man" trilogy, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe.

The movie is a window on a vanished America, where men wore hats and suits on the "overnight bus" from Miami to New York, wealthy fathers could all but imprison their willful daughters long past the age of 21, and newspaper reporters communicated with their editors via Western Union telegram.

It's more than a touch dated, and women today may bristle at the attitudes of the men in the movie, but this is just a great old classic romance with two terrific stars, entertaining and satisfying.

If you like It Happened One Night...

You may like other Frank Capra movies, other Claudette Colbert Movies or other Clark Gable movies. Try romantic comedies like The Shop Around the Corner, Some Like it Hot and His Girl Friday.

'It Happened One Night' at a Glance:

Year: 1934, Black and white
Director: Frank Capra
Running Time: 105 minutes
Studio: Columbia