It Happened One Night is a Pre Code romantic comedy/road movie
directed by Frank Capra. At the 7th Academy Awards in February 1935,
the film won an unprecedented haul of awards, becoming the first film to win
‘the big five’ of Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. The
feat went unmatched for over forty years and has only ever been matched twice.
Although slow to catch on with critics and the public alike, word of mouth
turned it into an unstoppable box office hit becoming Columbia’s highest grossing movie up to that
point. Eighty years on from its release, the film remains an irresistible
picture, combining drama and romance with a sizable dollop of Pre Code
sentiment and behaviour.
Based on the short story Night Bus, the plot concerns a young
heiress called Ellen Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who runs away from her
comfortable lifestyle after her father attempts to have her marriage to a newly
met aviator annulled. Aboard a bus to New
York City she meets a down and out reporter called
Peter Warne (Clark Gable). Warne is cocky and carefree and soon discovers
there’s a story in the runaway girl. He agrees to help fund her journey to New York in return for
cooperation on his story and the two begin a series of adventures on their way
to the city.
