50 years ago: It Happened One Night, one of history's greatest romcoms, released

It Happened One Night Released: February 22, 1934 Studio: Columbia Genre: comedy/romance Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 4.36 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 190.70 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Frank Capra Screenwriting: Robert Riskin Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly Review: “Frank Capra’s sparkling, legendary, madcap, screwball romantic comedy” FS “is considered one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time.” MSN It was the first to win all five major Oscars. It would be another 40 years before it happened again with 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The movie is based on “Night Bus,” a story by Samuel Hopkins, FS which was originally published in Cosmopolitan. LM Ellie Andrews (Colbert) is the high-society daughter of a millionaire (Connolly) who “is trying to escape her wealthy life to find true happiness.” VD While traveling incognito by bus, she meets “a sexy, brusque, dumb-but-loveable, out-of-work news correspondent (Gable).” FS “A steamy battle of the sexes begins” VD as “the antagonistic couple have a series of hapless adventures and comic misunderstandings, leading them to the realization that they were made for each other.” FS The movie contains legendary scenes such as the “Walls of Jericho” (a blanket dividing their beds) and her show-some-leg hitch-hiking technique which still “remain fresh and delightful.” LM Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 5 – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gable), Best Actress (Colbert), Best Adapted Screenplay Nominations: 5 Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leonard Maltin First posted 5/31/2023.