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Nov 21, 2014 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

A renowned investment tycoon objects to his daughter marrying a slimy celebrity pilot, and locks her up on his yacht. The spoiled young Ellen (Claudette Colbert) leaps overboard and swims to shore, grabbing a ticket for the first bus she can catch from Miami to New York, where she’ll be reunited with her fiancé. Her father puts out a reward for her safe return, sparking a well-publicized manhunt. Ellen, it turns out, is helpless to fend for herself—a fact capitalized on by the hard-drinking scoundrel of a reporter, Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who is the first to find her. Rather than turn her in for the money, he strikes a deal with the girl: he’ll help her get to New York undetected in exchange for the exclusive scoop on her story, which could revive his washed-up writing career. At first they view each other as a necessary evil—a stance which, of course, reverses over the course of their lengthy journey together.

“What she needs is a guy that’d take a sock at her once a day - whether it is coming to her or not!”

While certainly old-fashioned—you couldn’t get away with a line like the one above nowadays—It Happened One Night was in many ways a predecessor to the modern romantic comedy, and its dynamics will still feel familiar to the current-day viewer. Frank Capra’s 1934 film was the first to win all five of the major Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, and Screenplay (a feat that’s only been matched twice, by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Silence of the Lambs.) Watching it today, all five Oscars certainly feel deserved; Colbert and Gable are as magnetic and charming as ever, and the fast-paced script packs in plenty of quotable lines.

Criterion has put together a great, high definition presentation for It Happened One Night, which looks pretty darn good for a movie that’s 80 years old. Save for one dark night scene which takes place at a rest stop, the image is bright and clear. The audio is crisp, as well, which is important for a film with such rapid-fire dialogue (and a memorable musical rendition of “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” that breaks out on a Greyhound bus.) The extra features include Frank Capra’s first film, a silent short from 1921 titled Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House. The 1982 broadcast of the American Film Institute’s Tribute to Frank Capra special is the release’s real treasure; it provides an easy-to-digest summation of Capra’s life and work, and it’s wonderful to see long-gone luminaries such as Jimmy Stewart, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, and Peter Falk reflect so fondly on working with the director. This is a delightful film that’s presented in an excellent new special edition.

www.criterion.com/films/27900-it-happened-one-night

Author rating: 8/10