93. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

…AND THANK GOD IT HAPPENED

By Darin Skaggs

     As you may know I love film.  I try to respect all genres, but most romantic comedies are just not that good.  However some of them are good and others I consider masterpieces.  Films like The Goodbye Girl, When Harry Met Sally… and Annie Hall are among the greatest of the genre.  The staple, the centerpiece, the first amazing romantic comedy is also one of my favorite films.  That film is Frank Capra’s 1934’s It Happened One Night.

     The film has many of the cliché moments you would find in the cheesier and worse of the genre, but in this film they work.  The film is about a young rich woman named Ellie who is set to marry a man she does not love, so she runs away.  On her trip she encounters a charming yet annoying man, Peter.  Like most romantic movies, the two do not get along.  Of course throughout the film they learn each other’s characteristics and start to fall in love.

     This film is one of few films to win every major Academy Award.  Those include Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture.  The film deserves all of these awards.  The couple played by the great Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable do a great job performing the equally great dialogue.  Their shocked or nervous faces they make while people are searching for Ellie are hilarious and impressive.  The film is not very long yet the direction and screenplay make their short time together falling in love incredibly real and emotionally satisfying.

     The dialogue in the film is done at breakneck speeds and humor competes with any good comedy made today.  Some of the funniest scenes include describing the wall of Jericho, the way they rid a man who realizes Ellie has a reward if you bring her back to her family.  My personal favorite is when the cops are looking for Ellie, Peter decides to pretend that they are a couple in the midst of a big fight.  The cops find it so awkward while she cries into her hands and Peter yells loudly at her so they just leave.

     This film is defiantly one of the funniest films ever made and still funny today.  This film stood the test of time and probably will for the rest of time.  It has a lot of heart and makes you root for these silly people.  When you watch you will find yourself smiling the whole way through.