It Happened One Night (1934)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Samuel Hopkins Adams (story)
Robert Riskin (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1934 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | 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. But then he falls for her...

Plot Keywords:

Box Of Chocolates | Claim In Title | Bus Ride | Smoking | Gasoline

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Peter Warne
Claudette Colbert	...	Ellie Andrews
Walter Connolly	...	Alexander Andrews
Roscoe Karns	...	Oscar Shapeley
Jameson Thomas	...	King Westley
Alan Hale	...	Danker
Arthur Hoyt	...	Zeke
Blanche Friderici	...	Zeke's wife
Charles C. Wilson	...	Joe Gordon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernie Adams	...	The bag thief (uncredited)
Irving Bacon	...	Gas station attendant (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Bus driver #1 (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Henderson (uncredited)
George P. Breakston	...	Boy (uncredited)
Charles A. Browne	...	Reporter (as Charlie Browne) (uncredited)
James Burke	...	Detective (uncredited)
Edmund Burns	...	Best man (uncredited)
Ken Carson	...	Guitar player on bus (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Bus Driver #2 (uncredited)
Wallis Clark	...	Lovington (uncredited)
Ray Cooke	...	Drunk (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 (uncredited)
Oliver Eckhardt	...	Mr. Dykes (owner, Dykes Auto Camp) (uncredited)
Billy Engle	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Agnes (Gordon's secretary) (uncredited)
Allen Fox	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Dolores Fuller	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Kit Guard	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Frank Holliday	...	Detective (uncredited)
Harry Holman	...	Auto Camp manager (uncredited)
Harry Hume	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Sam Josephson	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Eddie Kane	...	Radio announcer (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Mimi Lindell	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Marvin Loback	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Rose May	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
William McCall	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Claire McDowell	...	Mother (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)
Tom Ricketts	...	Prissy old man (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)
S.S. Simon	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Linda Lee Solomon	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Bert Starkey	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Ethel Sykes	...	Maid of honor (uncredited)
Jane Talent	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Emma Tansey	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Harry Todd	...	Flagman at railroad crossing (uncredited)
Maidel Turner	...	Manager's wife (uncredited)
Henry Wadsworth	...	Drunken boy (uncredited)
John Wallace	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Fred Walton	...	Butler (uncredited)
Blackjack Ward	...	Man who says 'Your bus leaves in 5 minutes' (uncredited)
Dave Wengren	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Charles Wilroy	...	Bus passenger (uncredited)
Frank Yaconelli	...	Tony (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Capra

Writing credits
Samuel Hopkins Adams		(story "Night Bus")
Robert Riskin		(screenplay)

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

Original Music by
Howard Jackson		(uncredited)
Louis Silvers		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker

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 (uncredited)

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

Music Department
Louis Silvers	....	musical director

Other crew
Samuel J. Briskin	....	executive assistant: Mr. Cohn (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar (Brazil) (DVD)
• Cult & Classic (Brazil) (VHS)
• RCA Home Video (video)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (2000) (Japan) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Sunset Gower Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Night Bus (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

105 min

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) | Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Norway:16 (1934) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:15 | UK:U | South Korea:15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

King Westley: [after Ellie runs away from their wedding] What happened?
Alexander Andrews: I haven't the faintest idea.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)

Soundtrack:

The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Could Have Been Super With Different Ending; Still A Top 'Classic'

The first movie to sweep all the major Academy Awards, this film is still popular today. That's probably so because the dialog between the two stars of the picture - Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - is just great. Those two make this fun to watch. I enjoyed it, however, much more on the first viewing than subsequent ones. It lost some of its zip after I knew what to expect. The ending, too, was very weak. Over the last 20 minutes, the two stars go their separate ways (until the very end) and the story gets very stupid.

The nice romance that had developed between the two seemed to have disintegrated when Gable left one early morning (for good intentions) but didn't tell Colbert. The latter thought Gable ran out on her. Hollywood, in films of the 1930s and 1940s, loved to have romances in which confusion abounded and everything was misinterpreted for the worst....until the happy ending when the truth somehow would surface. That same theme was in here, along with yet another trivialization of marriage, another common theme during the classic era. Colbert says it herself in one line, mentioning she doesn't care for this other guy, but what the heck, might as well get married, what's the difference?

Huh?

If the scriptwriters here would have just kept the "road" part of this film going longer - with Gable and Colbert trading barbs - it would have been super. Gable has the best lines an is the most fun to watch but Colbert can hold her own. She looks really pixie-ish and cute, although most of her closeups are done with a fuzzy lens, another habit of filmmakers of that era had with female stars.

One of the film world's most famous scenes is in this movie: the hitch-hiking scene in which the cocky Cable explains the different ways of successful thumbing in order to get a ride....and gets nowhere while Colbert, on her first try, gets a car to stop immediately after she lifts up her skirt! That is still one of the great comedic scenes in movie history.

Overall, this is still one of the best comedies of "The Golden Age," even with its faults.