Story of movie It Happened One Night :
It Happened One Night is a 1934 American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite (Claudette Colbert) tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter (Clark Gable). The plot is based on the August 1933 short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. One of the last romantic comedies created before the MPAA began enforcing the 1930 production code in 1934, the film was released on February 22, 1934.
| It Happened One Night | |
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Original theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Frank Capra Harry Cohn |
| Screenplay by | Robert Riskin |
| Story by | Samuel Hopkins Adams |
| Based on | "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams |
| Starring | Clark Gable Claudette Colbert |
| Music by | Howard Jackson Louis Silvers |
| Cinematography | Joseph Walker |
| Edited by | Gene Havlick |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $325,000 |
| Box office | $2,500,000 $2,000,000 (theatrical rentals) |
It Happened One Night is the first of only three films (the other two being One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs) to win all five major Academy Awards : Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1993, It Happened One Night was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2013, the film underwent an extensive restoration.
Screenplay
Spoiled heiress Ellen "Ellie" Andrews has eloped with pilot and fortune-hunter King Westley against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father, Alexander Andrews. Andrews wants to have the marriage annulled because he knows Westley is really only interested in her money. Jumping ship in Florida, she runs away and boards a Greyhound bus to New York City to reunite with her husband. She meets fellow bus passenger Peter Warne, a freshly out-of-work newspaper reporter. Soon Peter recognizes her and gives her a choice: If she will give him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees to the first choice.
As they go through several adventures together, Ellie loses her initial disdain for him and begins to fall in love. When they have to hitchhike, they fail to secure a ride until Ellie displays a shapely leg to Danker, the next driver. When they stop en route, Danker tries to steal their luggage but Peter chases him down and seizes his Model T. Nearing the end of their journey, Ellie confesses her love to Peter. When the owners of the motel in which they are staying notice that Peter's car is gone, they expel Ellie. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie telephones her father, who agrees to let her marry Westley. Meanwhile, Peter has obtained money from his editor to marry Ellie, but he misses her on the road. Although Ellie has no desire to be with Westley, she believes Peter has betrayed her for the reward money and agrees to have a second, formal wedding (with Westley).
On the wedding day, she finally reveals the whole story to her father. When Peter comes to Ellie's home, Andrews offers him the reward money, but Peter insists on being paid only his expenses: a paltry $39.60 for items he had had to sell to buy gasoline. When Ellie's father presses him for an explanation of his odd behavior and demands to know if he loves her, Peter first tries to dodge the questions, but then admits he loves Ellie and storms out. Westley arrives for his wedding via autogyro; but at the ceremony, Andrews reveals to his daughter Peter's refusal of the reward money, and tells her that her car is waiting by the back gate in case she changes her mind about going through with the wedding. Ellie dumps Westley at the altar and bolts for her car, driving away as the newsreel cameras crank.
A few days later, Andrews is working at his desk when Westley calls to tell him he is taking the financial settlement he was offered and won't contest the annulment. His executive assistant brings him a telegram from Peter, which says, "What's holding up the annulment, you slowpoke? The walls of Jericho are toppling!", referring to a makeshift wall made of a blanket over a wire tied across the rooms they slept in between them to give them privacy. With the annulment in hand, Andrews sends the reply, "Let 'em topple."
In the last scene, we see Peter's battered Model T parked in a motor court in Glen Falls, Michigan. The mom and pop owners of the motor court talk, wondering why on such a warm night the newlyweds – he had seen the marriage license – wanted a clothesline, an extra blanket, and the little tin trumpet he had gotten for them. As they look at the cabin, the toy trumpet sounds a fanfare, the blanket falls to the floor, and the lights in the cabin go out.
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Neither Gable nor Colbert was the first choice to play the lead roles. Miriam Hopkins first rejected the part of Ellie. Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were then offered the roles, but each turned the script down, though Loy later noted that the final story as filmed bore little resemblance to the script that she and Montgomery had been offered for their perusal. Margaret Sullavan also rejected the part. Constance Bennett was willing to play the role if she could produce the film herself; however, Columbia Pictures would not allow this. Then Bette Davis wanted the role, but was under contract with Warner Brothers and Jack L. Warner refused to lend her. Carole Lombard was unable to accept, because the filming schedule conflicted with that of Bolero. Loretta Young also turned it down.
Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, and she initially turned the role down. Colbert's first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), had been directed by Capra, and it was such a disaster that she vowed to never make another with him. Later on, she agreed to appear in It Happened One Night only if her salary was doubled to $50,000, and also on the condition that the filming of her role be completed in four weeks so that she could take her well-planned vacation.
According to Hollywood legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a minor studio, as some kind of "punishment" for refusing a role at his own studio. This tale has been partially refuted by more recent biographies. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did not have a project ready for Gable, and the studio was paying him his contracted salary of $2,000 per week whether he worked or not. Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2,500 per week, hence netting MGM $500 per week while he was gone. Capra, however, insisted that Gable was a reluctant participant in the film.
Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. However, Capra understood their dissatisfaction and let screenwriter Robert Riskin rewrite the script. Colbert, however, continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. Upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!" Through the filming, Capra claimed, Colbert "had many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me", however, "she was wonderful in the part."
It was partially filmed at Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, California.
After filming was completed, Colbert complained to her friend, "I just finished the worst picture in the world." Columbia appeared to have low expectations for the film and did not mount much of an advertising campaign to promote it. Initial reviews, however, were generally positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes." He also described Colbert's performance as "engaging and lively" and Gable as "excellent". Variety reported that it was "without a particularly strong plot", but "manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and directing." Film Daily praised it as "a lively yarn, fast-moving, plenty humorous, racy enough to be tantalizing, and yet perfectly decorous." The New York Herald Tribune called it "lively and amusing." John Mosher of The New Yorker, however, panned it as "pretty much nonsense and quite dreary," which was probably the review Capra had in mind when he recalled in his autobiography that "sophisticated" critics had dismissed the film.
Despite the positive reviews, the film only did so-so business in its initial run. However, after it was released to the secondary movie houses, word-of-mouth began to spread and ticket sales became brisk, especially in smaller towns where the film's characters and simple romance struck a chord with moviegoers who were not surrounded by luxury. It turned out to be a major box office smash, easily Columbia's biggest hit to date.
In 1935, after her Academy Award nomination, Colbert decided not to attend the presentation, feeling confident that she would not win the award, and instead, planned to take a cross-country railroad trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train, which had not yet left the station, and take her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit which she had the Paramount Pictures costume designer, Travis Banton, make for her trip.
Academy Awards
The film won all five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated at the 7th Academy Awards for 1934:
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