It Happened One Night (1934)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay)
Samuel Hopkins Adams (short story)

Release Date:

23 February 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Two great lovers of the screen in the grandest of romantic comedies !

Plot:

A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who's actually a reporter looking for a story.

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Reporter | Yacht | Love | Aviator

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Peter Warne
Claudette Colbert	...	Ellie
Walter Connolly	...	Andrews
Roscoe Karns	...	Shapeley
Jameson Thomas	...	Westley
Alan Hale	...	Danker
Arthur Hoyt	...	Zeke
Blanche Friderici	...	Zeke's Wife
Charles C. Wilson	...	Gordon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernie Adams	...	The Bag Thief (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold	...	Woman at Auto Camp (uncredited)
Irving Bacon	...	Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
William Bailey	...	Clark (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Bus Driver #1 (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Henderson (uncredited)
George P. Breakston	...	Boy Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Charles A. Browne	...	Reporter (uncredited)
James Burke	...	Detective (uncredited)
Edmund Burns	...	Best Man at Wedding (uncredited)
Ken Carson	...	Guitar Player on Bus (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Bus Driver #2 (uncredited)
Wallis Clark	...	Lovington (uncredited)
Ray Cooke	...	Drunk Reporter (uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	Detective (uncredited)
Ray Creighton	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Jack Curtis	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Mickey Daniels	...	Vendor on Bus (uncredited)
Eva Dennison	...	Society Woman (uncredited)
Neal Dodd	...	Minister at Wedding (uncredited)
Oliver Eckhardt	...	Mr. Dykes - Auto Camp Owner (uncredited)
Billy Engle	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Jack Evans	...	Man Saying 'Your Bus Leaves in 5 Minutes' (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Agnes - Gordon's Secretary (uncredited)
Allen Fox	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Dolores Fuller	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Joaquin Garay	...	Mexican Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Carlton Griffin	...	Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Kit Guard	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Drunk Reporter (uncredited)
A.R. Haysel	...	Bus Dispatcher (uncredited)
Frank Holliday	...	Detective (uncredited)
Harry Holman	...	Last Auto Camp Manager (uncredited)
Harry Hume	...	Policeman (uncredited)
William Irving	...	Passenger on Second Bus (uncredited)
Sam Josephson	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Drunk Reporter (uncredited)
Mimi Lindell	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Marvin Loback	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Rose May	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
William McCall	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Claire McDowell	...	Mother on Bus (uncredited)
Kate Morgan	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Patsy O'Byrne	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Earl Pingree	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Hal Price	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Margaret Reid	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Ky Robinson	...	Detective (uncredited)
Blanche Rose	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Rita Ross	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Matty Roubert	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Marvin Schecter	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Harry Schultz	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Bert Scott	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
S.S. Simon	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Linda Lee Solomon	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Bert Starkey	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Ethel Sykes	...	Maid of Honor (uncredited)
Jane Talent	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Emma Tansey	...	Ticket Buyer (uncredited)
Harry Todd	...	Flagman at Railroad Crossing (uncredited)
Maidel Turner	...	Last Motel Manager's Wife (uncredited)
William Wagner	...	Waiter at Wedding (uncredited)
John Wallace	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Fred Walton	...	Butler (uncredited)
Dave Wengren	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Billy West	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Charles Wilroy	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Buck Woods	...	Cook Serving Food to Passengers (uncredited)
Frank Yaconelli	...	Tony (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Capra

Writing credits
Robert Riskin		(screenplay)
Samuel Hopkins Adams		(short story)

Produced by
Frank Capra	....	producer (uncredited)
Harry Cohn	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Howard Jackson		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(photography)

Film Editing by
Gene Havlick

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Stunts
Mary Wiggins	....	stunt double: Claudette Colbert's dive off ship (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Louis Silvers	....	musical director
Louis Silvers	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Harry Cohn	....	president: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Samuel J. Briskin	....	executive assistant: Mr. Cohn (uncredited)
George Brown	....	general press agent (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents) (as A Columbia Production also)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical) (as A Columbia Picture)
• Columbia International Films (1934) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Columbia Pictures of Argentina (1934) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Croeze en Bosman (1934) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (????) (USA) (TV) (a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Cult & Classic (Brazil) (VHS)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• RCA Home Video (video)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (2000) (Japan) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Sunset Gower Studios  sound stages (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

105 min | West Germany:65 min (cut TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Norway:16 (1934) | Brazil:Livre | USA:Approved (PCA #4311-R: 11 May 1938 for re-release) | UK:A (original rating) | Netherlands:AL (original rating) (1934) | UK:U (tv rating) | USA:Unrated | Argentina:Atp | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:15 | UK:U (video rating) (1986) | South Korea:15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Busch Gardens - S. Grove Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The first of only three films to win every major Academy Award, including Best Picture.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Peter is singing and threatening to take off his pants, Ellie begins to bolt behind the hanging blanket. A half second later there is a shot of Ellie looking at him for a solid second, and then bolting to the other side of the blanket.

Quotes:

Peter Warne:I never did like the idea of sitting on newspapers. I did it once, and all the headlines came off on my white pants. On the level! It actually happened. Nobody bought a paper that day. They just followed me around over town and read the news on the seat of my pants.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sex and the City 2 (2010)

Soundtrack:

Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)

The Hero As Comedian

In his autobiography, The Name's Above the Title, Frank Capra said that until It Happened One Night drama had four stock characters, the hero, the heroine, the comedian, and the villain.

What Capra did and you might notice he followed that in a whole lot of his films, the characters of hero and comedian are combined. Not completely though because Claudette Colbert gets a few laughs herself, especially with that system all her own. But in doing what he did for Clark Gable's character, Capra created a whole new type of screen comedy, the classic screwball comedy and It Happened One Night surely set the mold.

Capra's autobiography told the story of the making of It Happened One Night which in itself could be a movie. Capra worked for Columbia Pictures which at that time was a minor studio, along the lines of Republic or Monogram. As Capra tells it he had a vision about this story that Samuel Hopkins Adams wrote and persuaded Harry Cohn to buy it.

Capra also had a stroke of good luck. Adolph Zukor at Paramount and Louis B. Mayer at MGM were looking to punish a couple of recalcitrant stars, Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. The idea was to show these two what it was like to work in a small budget studio without all the perks of Paramount and MGM. In fact the description of Gable arriving to work at Columbia that first day, drunk as a skunk, is priceless. Capra dressed him down good and said that to his credit Gable came to work afterwards and couldn't have been more cooperative.

At some point Harry Cohn at Columbia was convinced that maybe Capra had something. He had in fact delivered for Columbia the previous year with Lady for a Day. So the publicity drums were beat.

The rest as they say is history. It Happened One Night won the first Oscar grand slam, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. It won the first Oscars Columbia Pictures ever got and lifted it right into the ranks of the major studios. And it set the standard for screwball comedy.

The film could never have gotten off the ground were it not for the chemistry of Gable and Colbert. They're together for most of the film so if it doesn't click between the two of them, you have people walking out in droves. Colbert had already played a wide variety of parts at Paramount, ranging from Poppaea and Cleopatra to comedies with Maurice Chevalier like The Big Pond. Gable had played a whole lot of tough guys on both sides of the law at MGM. It Happened One Night showed he had some real comic talent, a flair MGM exploited in his roles from then on in.

Gable and Colbert did only one other film together, Boom Town for MGM. You can't get much more different than those two films. Boom Town had a huge MGM budget, Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr as well, and a lot of special effects involving the oil industry and hazards therein. It's also a great film, but it's not a classic like It Happened One Night.