Classic Romantic Comedies Vol. 1: It Happened One Night

Film critics have been mourning the death of the romantic comedy for almost twenty years.  While I do think that this is a slight exaggeration, I do believe that an inordinate amount of attention and money is invested in the bland, poorly written, sitcom-like Romcoms of the modern era.   There are few things I love more than classic cinema, and in an attempt to highlight some of the great classic romantic comedies of yesteryear, I have decided to write a continuing series about some of the best.  So, without further adieu…

It is unheard of for a modern comedy to win a major Oscar- flashback to 1935, when a comedy swept all of the main categories, including best screenplay, actor, actress, director, and best picture.  This feat was accomplished by today’s inaugural entry, It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clack Gable and Claudette Colbert. 

Before I give a plot synopsis, I feel that it is only fair to give the uninitiated a frame of reference for depression era comedies.  Because, the world was in the throes of the Great Depression, films became a favored distraction from the bleak realities of depression life.  Comedies and musicals were two genres that really took off, because of they offered pleasant, uncomplicated escapist fantasies that helped people forget their troubles.  Most of the best comedies of the thirties almost always featured eccentric rich people and invited audiences to laugh at how ridiculous their opulent lifestyles were.  More often than not, the protagonist was a down-to-earth every-man who is forced to act off of the crazy rich people.  What these films tried to say was, sure look at how much the rich are, but their wealth causes more trouble than good.  This theme will become quite clear as this series continues.

It Happened One Night, features Claudette Colbert as a rich heiress who jumps off of her father’s yacht one day and goes on the run to meet her fiancé in New York.  The whereabouts of the wayward heiress become national news.  When she jumps a cross-country bus to New York she becomes entangled with an ace-reporter (played by Clack Gable) who agrees to help her get to her fiancé if he gets the exclusive story of her journey.  The rest of the film is devoted to the misadventures of the pair as they make their way to Colbert’s fiancée, with her father in hot pursuit.  As you would expect, romance blossoms between the heiress and the reporter. 

There are a couple of sequences in It Happened One Night, that have become classics, including the oft imitated, Walls of Jericho sequence and the hitchhiking sequence where Colbert puts the arrogant Gable in his place.  Though the comedy is simple and seems somewhat quaint in the modern era, the sophistication of the writing and the chemistry between the stars makes this a treasure.  If you’re tired of the same old idiotic modern Romcom, give it a shot.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.