One of only a handful of films that have claimed the Big Five at the Oscars (film, director, actor, actress, script), It Happened One Night was, according to star Claudette Colbert, the worst picture in the world.
Opinions begged to differ as the somewhat minor rom-com proved to be a huge box-office smash – and made Colbert and Clark Gable stars. Spoilt rich-girl on the run from her family helped by a down-on-his-luck journalist in desperate need of a scoop, directed by Frank Capra, was the lightweight material to do it.
It’s fun, it’s amusing if somewhat minor, it is the chemistry in what is essentially a two-hander alongside a sparkling script from Robert Riskin that make It Happened One Night an above average rom-com.
Nominated and won those 5 Oscars in 1935.
Rating: 56%
Director: Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life, You Can’t Take It With You)
Writer: Robert Riskin (Meet John Doe, You Can’t Take It With You) – based on the short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Main cast: Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty), Claudette Colbert (Since You Went Away, Cleopatra), Walter Connolly (Lady For a Day, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
An Opinion or Two 