I remember finding this really funny the first time I saw it. By now I think the walls of Jericho gag has grown old on me. It's still funny, just not as funny as it was the first time I heard it. Although I did smile when the walls did finally tumble. I still smile at the hitchhiking scene and I still smile at the banter between Ellie and Peter. What's not as amusing are the quieter scenes. I appreciate that we're watching players acting but I almost wish that, yes, they'd speed up a bit more. I think the fact that they are too quiet bothers me. I'd have to watch again to be sure but I'm almost sure there's barely no soundtrack if there's even any. The wedding march doesn't count. In any case, let me get into something I do love about this film.
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are great in this film. I don't know if it's because neither of them wanted to be in the movie, or if they got along really well, but they gave great performances. Their banter moves along so well, back and forth, each of them giving it back to the other. It's great watching them fight and see who ends up on top. And this kind of relationship is fun to watch, two people who are so opposite and cannot stand one another end up falling in love. And you root for them, you want them to end up together in the end.
Another great thing I loved was the complications. It was never easy for them, from being stuck on a later bus to running off on the road, hitchhiking to having no money or food. And Ellie never wants to crawl back to her dad for help. She is determined to reach New York on her own, more or less of course with the help of Peter. But then she thinks he doesn't reciprocate her feelings for him so she takes off, but he does love her and thinks she's gone back to her dad and King Westly. Oh the misunderstandings! It keeps you involved.
Some of the things I forgot? What a drunk Peter is. He looks downright buffoonish when he sits next to Ellie in the bus. Then there's the band sing-along going on in the bus. It went on for three verses before the bus veers off into a creek. I had also forgotten how slimy King Westly looks. And again, I had forgotten how serious some scenes turn when Ellie pleads with Peter to take her with him. Or when she cries in his arms that she thought he had taken off and left her in the haystack. Perhaps sticking a bit more comedy in some of these scenes may have helped, or maybe not. It's still something I'm trying to figure out, the balance between the serious and the funny.
Another thing I like is Ellie. She is a strong character who jumps into the water from her father's yacht and swims away. She runs off and is determined to get to her destination without her father's help. And when she meets her match in Peter, she never backs down. She fights back. She teases him and eventually falls for him. And although she does plead with him, when she thinks that he has left her she doesn't stick around and mope. She leaves too even if it is to go back with her dad and King Westly. And at the altar, when she realizes Peter loves her as well, she--the original Runaway Bride--takes off across the field and gets into a car and takes off. Like every good protagonist, Ellie goes after what she wants and in the end she gets Peter.
It Happened One Night is truly a classic with some great characters and dialogue as well as a great story. It was the first film out of three in the history of the Oscars to win the big five for best actress, actor, screenplay, director, and picture. And upon seeing this film again I was reminded at how deserving the film is of the five Oscars. Frank Capra had his work cut out for him considering his two leads weren't too thrilled to be doing the film, but Capra was able to make a wonderful film about two completely opposite people--and both kinda screwy--falling in love.
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