#47 - It Happened One Night (1934)

This film just beat The Dictator and Citizen Kane as the oldest film I've watched for this list so far. But I can't underestimate it for its age, I mean, it won five freaking Academy Awards (best picture, best actor, best actress, best director and best writing? Holy fuck). Surprisingly enough, it still holds up as a fantastic film and a must watch if you're into romantic comedies. Or if you're not, whatever.

While the premise follows the same basic formula of every romantic comedy ever, it still works due to the great chemisrty between the characters. Claudette Colbert plays the rich and spoiled heiress, Ellie Andrews, whose father forbid her to marry the man he loves, King Westley. She escapes her father's grasp and rides a bus in Florida to get to King in New York. There she meets up with the streetwise and recently unemployed journalist, Peter Warne, played by Clark Gable. Trying to get the scoop of his life and get his job back, Peter agrees to help Ellie, who has a hard time, being used to a life of luxury.

        

It's the odd couple, fish out of the water and road trip clichés all in one, but it works.

Clark Gable's character and performance steal the show, being very charming and classy as well as pretentious and a little bit of an ass at times. While Ellie is supposed to be a pain in the ass, I mean, she is vain and pampered, she is pretty fun to watch as well. But while the main characters are great on their own (and the supporting cast is not half bad either), the thing that really makes this film great is the chemistry between the characters. Their relationship may be very typical, starting out with the bump-into-each-other scenario, being all "I would never date this guy" and later on warming to each other, but the progression and development of their relationship is very well paced.

And how can I forget the excellent writing. For most of the film I was surprised to see how spot on the dialogue was, coming out incredibly natural in contrast with the wacky situations the come across. The film's main source for comedy is the whole clash of classes idea, with the rich, pampered girl suddenly having to act by herself in a middle class setting and failing miserably at trivial things while the witty one tries to help her out. But even when they start getting along there's plenty of humor. Some highlights are the perfect rocky start; the car theft; or the moment when Ellie's dad runs into the couple and they have to pretend to be a low income, dysfunctional family.

And, of course, the hitchhiking part.

I also have to give the film credit because, even though it falls into the predictable fallout scenario, where right at the last third of the film both characters break up and get bitchy at each other, we don't get a sappy reunion. I won't spill the film's ending, but thank you so much for not doing that.

In the end, I think I'm close to considering it one of my personal favorite films. It's not that hilarious (it is, after all, a romantic comedy) but I still had plenty of laughs, and the characters, script and scenarios are fantastic. Almost eighty years later,  it still holds up as a really good and very enjoyable film.