It Happened One Night [DVD]

THE STORY: Spoiled rotten heiress runs away from home to avoid marriage to a man she doesn't really love. A down on his luck newspaper reporter smells a story, tracks the girl down and sticks with her. In the process, the two find hatred turning to begruding respect and finally deep love. Will the snooty little rich girl follow her heart and stay with this rough & tumble guy... or will she go where the money is in order to make her family happy?THOUGHTS: Not much to say about this wonderful old romantic screwball comedy that hasn't been said many times before. It's just about perfect. Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert are absolutely splendid in their roles, as are the solid cast of supporting players. It's just a joy to watch this delightful film play out. It just never gets old. Surprisingly enough, the excellent "Making of" featurette on the DVD paints a murky, troubling story about the clash of personalities and conflicts behind the scenes. The movie almost seemed destined to never get made. Thank goodness everything that went on in front of the lens was pure gold! 5 Academy Awards proves its excellence and a good old fashioned romance never really goes out of style. Even though so much has changed from the time period in which this gem was filmed, romance and men & women have actually changed very little. Treat yourself and buy this movie! Watch it alone or, even better, with the one you love. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT belongs in every true movie fan's collection.THE DVD: Good transfer. Solid blacks & mid-tones and minimal print damage here. Sound mix is level and solid. Extras include the above-mentioned behind-the-scenes featurette. Well worth watching if you enjoy the film and movies in general. There are at least three DVD versions. I don't have the Criterion Blu-ray... yet. A 5 STAR film, regardless of format.

What to say about a movie like this? Claudette Colbert is adorable. Clark Gable is at his alpha-male finest. Frank Capra used his tried and true formula with humor to make one of the best romantic comedies of the 1930's.A rebellious rich girl, Ellie Andrews (Colbert), runs away from her rich father because of his opposition to her marriage to King Westley, not a monarch but an upper class snob that her father loathes. Who should she run into on a bus while fleeing than none other than a brash just-fired reporter named Peter Warne, played by Gable. Let the war games begin as Colbert and Gable engage in the sophisticated and very funny running banter that makes the movie so appealing.Her flight via the bus, and other forms of travel, is the vehicle for moving the couple and the plot along as their relationship develops. He is using her for a story, ostensibly. She is using him as her protector, ostensibly. What follows are a number of classic comic scenes which, of course, ineluctably lead to true love.Colbert's successful skirt-lifting hitchhike has become the stuff of Hollywood legend, shown repeatedly for every conceivable purpose. What is usually missing from that clip is the whole hilarious build up, brilliantly done by Gable as he demonstrates the tried and true ways of thumbing a ride. He does a wonderful job of setting his large male thumb, and ego, up for the big take-down that Colbert's lovely leg produces.The blanket scenes in various cabins as they make their way across country together were considered extremely risqué in their day. The request for the toy horn is a fittingly excellent double entendre for the dénouement. After all adversities that King Westley and her father pose are overcome by true love the newly-eloped Warnes fittingly turn off the lights in their honeymoon cabin, blow their "Jericho" toy horn, and let the blanket, and the curtain, fall.This is a Frank Capra movie so you can expect the assumptions of privileged wealth (Colbert) to be challenged and scorned by a defender of the little guy like reporter Gable. He refers to Colbert as "brat" in both angry and affectionate ways depending upon the situation. Capra was nothing if not a true-believer in the American ideal that riches didn't make you better than the less-fortunate person seated next to you, in life or on a bus.The movie contains scenes of harmony in the shared hard times of the Great Depression, like everyone singing together on the bus, Gable's aid to a poor boy, and his "you're as good as me" wave to hobos riding on a train. They are the predictable types of scenes which a viewer can find in every Capra movie; corny but no less heartwarming. This is the stuff of good film-making. Throughout his career Capra truly evinced an idealism in his movies that is hard to picture in our time. It is amazing that he was able to preserve that idealism right through to his last movie in 1961, fittingly titled "A Pocketful of Miracles."

This movie has won more awards than any other film, including 5 Oscars. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert playing against type and having the most fun possible on a movie screen. It is totally family friendly, and one of my most favorite movies of all time, and I am a film critic.

I feel like a kid in the candy store. Having finally purchased the DVD of this wonderful film there's a sense that I did something right. This film has no heavy moral ambiguity but it still has a wonderful portrayal of the human condition in America. Clark Gable as Peter Warne is a lovable cad of a newsman. He's not terrible but he is manipulative. He's also sincere. I never know just when he actually falls in love with the swanky material girl, Ellen Andrews, played by the spunky Claudette Colbert, but you know it's happening along every step of their reluctant road trip. Her change of heart is forced upon her when the reality of how she will miss Peter when the trip is over. She learns a little humility and he learns that even the rich and spoiled can be sincere as well as fall in love with a regular Joe. This is such a delightful pairing that it's amazing that I've never seen them paired again in other movies. Marvelous chemestry exists between them and they are the perfect foil for each other's hard-headed assuptions about the other. This movie is also a wonderful slice of director Frank Capra's gift for revealing genuine scenes of Americans and Americana. Our strengths and our faults ride side by side throughout the odyssey from Miami to New York. The strengths win out with a few personal compromises leading to revelations along the way. I caught myself smiling by the movie's end.No surprise there.The picture on this DVD is full screen and not widescreen. Having never seen the film is a theater I have no idea if any cropping occurred. However, the picture is surprisingly clean and clear.All around, this is some of the best money I've spent on a DVD.