It Happened One Night is a 1934 American screwball comedy film produced and directed by Frank Capra. Claudette Colbert stars as a pampered socialite who tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter, played by Clark Gable.
The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the August 1933 short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. It is considered a "pre-Code" production, as it was released just four months before the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America began rigidly enforcing the Hays Code.Brown 1995, p. 118.
It was the first of only three films to win the "Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 1993, it was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"."National Film Registry." Library of Congress. Retrieved: October 28, 2011. In 2013, the film underwent an extensive restoration by Sony Pictures."Restoring the Frank Capra Classic, It Happened One Night". CreativeCOW.net. Retrieved: April 16, 2014."Colorworks completes brilliant 4K restoration of Frank Capra classic 'It Happened One Night. Shoot, November 18, 2013. Retrieved: April 16, 2014.
Plot Wall Street heiress Ellie Andrews has eloped with glamorous pilot King Westley. Her father, who considers Westley a fortune hunter, sequesters Ellie on his Florida yacht while his lawyers arrange an annulment. Ellie escapes and swims to shore, where she boards a Greyhound bus bound for New York City to reunite with Westley. Mr. Andrews makes headlines by offering a $10,000 reward ($240,672 in 2025) for her safe return.
On the bus, Ellie meets Peter Warne, a newly unemployed newspaper reporter. Peter is annoyed by Ellie, who expects special treatment and lacks practical life skills. However, drawn to Ellie's strong personality, he helps her after a thief steals most of her money. During a scheduled stop in Jacksonville, Florida, Ellie misses the bus, wrongly assuming the driver would wait for her. Having read the headlines, Peter stays behind to accompany her, and they catch the evening bus that night.
On the evening bus, Ellie initially sits next to salesman Shapeley, who hits on her until Peter claims to be her husband. The bus is forced to stop for the night when a bridge washes out on the road, and Peter rents them a motel room together. He gives her an ultimatum: if she gives him an exclusive story, he will help her get to New York; otherwise, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees to the story.
Peter strings up a blanket room divider between their respective beds, which he jokingly calls the "walls of Jericho". In the morning, Mr. Andrews' private detectives question Peter and Ellie, who evade them by pretending to be a married couple having a stormy argument.
On the next bus, Shapeley recognizes Ellie from a newspaper and offers to split the reward with Peter. Pretending to be a gang member kidnapping Ellie for a higher ransom, Peter scares off Shapeley, who runs off. Worried Shapeley will report their location to Ellie's father, Peter insists they leave the bus and go on foot.
The next morning, Peter and Ellie hitchhike. Though they argue about Ellie's privilege and Peter's cockiness, they begin to fall in love. While Peter's technique fails to hail a series of cars, Ellie succeeds on her first attempt by displaying her leg. The driver who stops is a highwayman who drives away with their luggage. Peter chases him down and steals his car, enabling them to continue their journey.
At a New Jersey motel, Ellie confesses her love to Peter, who is moved but rebuffs her because he considers himself unworthy as long as he remains unemployed. Early next morning, while Ellie sleeps, Peter drives to New York to sell his story to his former newspaper for $1,000 ($25,700 in 2026). Seeing Peter drive away, the motel owners conclude Ellie is a deadbeat and evict her. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie calls her father to take her home. On their way back, their motorcade passes Peter, who realizes he is too late.
Shortly before a second, formal wedding ceremony with Westley, Ellie confesses to her father her love for Peter. After Peter reaches out to Mr. Andrews about a "financial" matter, which Ellie assumes is the $10,000 reward, she resolves to marry Westley anyway. Rather than claim the reward, Peter asks Mr. Andrews to reimburse him for his expenses from the trip, which total $39.60 (). Impressed by Peter's honesty, Mr. Andrews asks whether Peter loves Ellie; after dodging the question several times, Peter admits he loves her.
While walking Ellie down the aisle, Mr. Andrews reveals Peter's full story. He expresses his approval of Peter and urges that if Ellie changes her mind, he will help her escape the wedding and pay Westley to go away. Dumping Westley at the altar, Ellie seeks out Peter.
As Mr. Andrews predicted, Westley agrees to an annulment for $100,000 ($2.4 million in 2026). Anxiously waiting for the annulment to go through, Peter telegrams Mr. Andrews that "the walls of Jericho are toppling"; Mr. Andrews confirms that Peter can "let 'em topple". At the honeymooners' motel, a trumpet plays, and a blanket falls to the floor in the couple's cabin, after which the lights go out.
Cast
Production Casting
Neither Gable nor Colbert was the first choice to play the lead roles. Miriam Hopkins rejected the part of Ellie. Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were then offered the roles, but both turned down the script. Loy later noted that the final story as filmed bore little resemblance to the script that she and Montgomery had been given.Kotsabilas-Davis and Loy 1987, p. 94. Note: Loy described the first script she saw as "one of the worst [that] she had ever read." Margaret Sullavan also rejected the part.Wiley and Bona 1987, p. 54. Constance Bennett was willing to accept the role if she could produce the film herself but Columbia Pictures would not agree to that condition. Bette Davis then wanted the roleWeems, Erik. It Happened One Night – Frank Capra. eeweems.com, April 2013. Retrieved: April 1, 2015. but she was under contract with Warner Brothers and Jack L. Warner refused to lend her.Chandler 2006, p. 102. Carole Lombard was unable to accept because Columbia's proposed filming schedule would conflict with her work on Bolero at Paramount.McBride 1992, p. 303. Loretta Young also turned it down."Loretta Young 1999." flickr.com. Retrieved: November 14, 2007.
Harry Cohn suggested Colbert, who initially turned down the role.Karney 1995, p. 252. Her first film, For the Love of Mike (1927), had been directed by Capra and was such a disaster that neither wanted to work with the other again.McBride 1992, pp. 304, 307. Later, she agreed to the role only if her salary was doubled to $50,000 and if her scenes were completed in four weeks so that she could take a planned vacation.
According to Hollywood legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a minor studio, as punishment for refusing a role at his own studio. That tale has been partially refuted by more recent biographies. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did not have a project ready for Gable and the studio was paying him his contracted salary of $2,000 per week whether he worked or not. Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2,500 per week, hence netting MGM $500 per week while he was gone.Harris 2002, pp. 112–114. Capra, however, insisted that Gable was a reluctant participant in the film.Capra 1971, p. 164.
Filming
Filming began in a tense atmosphere, as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the script. Capra understood their dissatisfaction and let screenwriter Robert Riskin rewrite it. Colbert continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. Upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!"Pace, Eric. "Claudette Colbert, unflappable heroine of screwball comedies, is dead at 92." The New York Times, July 31, 1996, p. D21. Capra claimed that Colbert "had many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me," but "was wonderful in the part." Part of the film was made on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, California.Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers. Windsor Publications. p. 82. .
Reception
Columbia appeared to have low expectations for the film and did not mount much of an advertising campaign for it.Tueth, p. 20.
The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall. Initial reviews were generally positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes". Hall described Colbert's performance as "engaging and lively" and Gable as "excellent". Variety reported that it was "without a particularly strong plot" but "manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and directing". Film Daily praised it as "a lively yarn, fast-moving, plenty humorous, racy enough to be tantalizing, and yet perfectly decorous". The New York Herald Tribune called it "lively and amusing".Mizejewski, p. 11.
John Mosher of The New Yorker panned it as "pretty much nonsense and quite dreary", which was probably the review Capra had in mind when he recalled in his autobiography that "sophisticated" critics had dismissed the film.Mizejewski, p. 12. Despite the positive reviews, the film was only moderately successful in its initial run. After it was released to secondary movie houses, ticket sales became brisk, especially in smaller towns where the film's characters and simple romance struck a chord with moviegoers who were not surrounded by luxury. It turned out to be a major box office smash, easily Columbia's biggest hit at least until the late 1980s.McBride 1992, pp. 308–309. During its initial release, the film earned $1 million in theater rentals from the United States and Canada.
Rotten Tomatoes compiled 108 reviews of the film to form a 98% score and an average rating of 9.1/10. The consensus reads, "Capturing its stars and director at their finest, It Happened One Night remains unsurpassed by the countless romantic comedies it has inspired". The film holds a score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 16 critics.
Colbert was nominated for an Academy Award, but decided not to attend the ceremony since she felt she had "just finished the worst picture in the world","Review: 'It Happened One Night'." moviediva.com, April 2005. Retrieved: December 7, 2009. and planned to take a cross-country railroad trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to "drag her off" the train, which had not yet departed, to bring her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a two-piece traveling suit.Sharon Fink. "Oscars: The Evolution of Fashion." St. Petersburg Times, February 24, 2007.
Academy Awards The film won all five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated at the 7th Academy Awards for 1934: Award Result Winner Outstanding Production Frank Capra and Harry Cohn (for Columbia Pictures) Best Director Frank Capra Best Actor Clark Gable Best Actress Claudette Colbert Best Adaptation Robert Riskin