Premise: An heiress goes on the run from her father after he doesn't approve of the man she's engaged to, and she ends up with a newspaper writer companion as she tries to get to New York.
It's annoying that screwball comedies seem so simple: Just fast-talking banter, attractive leads, a few wacky scenarios, and they get hitched in the end. It means that anyone thinks they can make one, which ends up killing the genre*. Actually, the screenplays should be rigidly structured to appear chaotic. The leads have to have chemistry and know how to land a punchline. Making the writing zippy isn't enough. It actually has to be funny. So, it's nice that It Happened One Night was able to have one of the most impressive Oscar sweeps ever before people got so tired of the genre that Bringing Up Baby bombed just four years later.
*It reminds me a lot of TV shows using the "It's a 12-hour movie" argument. Sure, when The Wire does it, it looks easy, but it's not just filming a 1000-page screenplay and arbitrarily cutting it into episodes. There's a lot more to it.
It Happened One Night is one of only three movies to win the Big Five Oscars (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor, Lead Actress). It also won the only five awards it was nominated for, which isn't quite Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King going 11 for 11, but it's still quite impressive. It's odd to think of this movie as being in rarified air. We've been trained for so long to think of this kind of movie as lightweight and disposable. Like, it's shocking when Pretty Woman even got a single nomination 30 years ago. La La Land only did so well because of the musical gimmick. Could you imagine Palm Springs getting legit Oscar love now? It's almost like RomComs now suffer because It Happened One Night and The Philadelphia Story did so well back then. I guess Annie Hall did sneak in a win for 1977. That's the last time though, depending on your definition.
This movie is great though. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have wonderful chemistry. I love the running gag about how Gable has a proper way to do everything. "Neurotic Representation" needs more characters who are that devilishly handsome. I thought it was cool how the movie ends without us seeing them together for a while. I think the last time Gable and Colbert are on screen together is when there's the misunderstanding about him collecting the reward. Then there are a bunch of scenes in which other people direct them back together and finally the hotel owners confirming that they were married. It's an unexpected and nice choice.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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