Product Description
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) was made during the American Great Depression of the 1930's and was the first motion picture to be honored with awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director.
Ellie Andrews (Colbert) has just tied the knot with society aviator King Westley when she is whisked away to her father's yacht and out of King's clutches. Ellie jumps ship and eventually winds up on a bus headed back to her husband. Reluctantly she must accept the help of out-of- work reporter Peter Warner (Gable). Actually, Warner doesn't give her any choice: either she sticks with him until he gets her back to her husband, or he'll blow the whistle on Ellie to her father. Either way, Peter gets what he thinks he wants .... a really juicy newspaper story. Director Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) took home every Oscar in the book (well, okay, all the major ones) for this seminal 1934 comedy. Funny and sexy, the film is full of memorable scenes often referred to in other films, such as the "Walls of Jericho" (a mere bedcover hung on a line down the middle of a room so opposite-sex roommates can get undressed), and Colbert's famous flash of thigh to stop a speeding car in its tracks. Capra's brisk, urbane brand of wit was a perfect complement to his populist faith in the common man (in this case, Gable's character), and that inspired combination makes this film both a spirited entertainment and an uplifting experience.
DVD ~ James Cagney
