Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

evhstheater They most certainly don't make comedies like this anymore. It is such a joy to watch the chemistry of the two lead on screen and fall in love with them falling in love.

brodyeto The dialog is witty, the characters are delightful, and the story is timeless. The way it managed to weave together a story of conflicing interests and miscommunicated interests was so good, it became a cliché in romantic comedies, even to this day. However, unlike some other formulaic cash grabs you might see today, nothing about the misunderstanding felt forced or overly coincidental. The acting was great, and Clark Gabels performance was charming, smooth, and reluctant, akin to Bogart in Casablanca.

Michael_Elliott It Happened One Night (1934) **** (out of 4) Ellie (Claudette Colbert) is a rich, spoiled brat who runs away from her father (Walter Connolly) after he objects to her runaway marriage. Soon she is out on the road trying to get back to New York when she runs across Peter (Clark Gable), a man who recently quit his job at the newspaper. Peter and Ellie can't stand one another but he agrees to help her reach New York in exchange for an exclusive story.Frank Capra ended up winning Best Director and the picture ending up nabbing all the major awards, which was the first time this had ever been done and it wouldn't happen again until ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST did it fifty years later. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is a film that has been copies dozens if not hundreds of times over the years so it's easy to look at it and not see anything original but in 1934 this here was original material and it's easy to see why it was a box office hit and walked away with so many Oscars.It's funny to think that Columbia approached this as a "B" movie but it shows what a great director can do with a good story and a wonderful cast. There's no question that Capra's magical touch is all over this film and especially when you see the way it is edited and how it goes for its laughs. There are some hilarious moments scattered throughout the film including the now legendary hitchhiking scene but there's another hilarious and more quiet moment dealing with Gable scaring someone who is trying to work his way in on the reward money.What makes this film so memorable is the fact that you get two superb performances from the two lead legends. Colbert was already a star by the time this came out but she's perfect in the role of the brat who slowly begins to realize that she's been seeing the world in the wrong way. The film also offers up fine support from the likes of Connolly and Roscoe Karns. With that said, it's Gable who steals the picture and it's easy to see why his career never looked back after this. His comic timing is simply flawless throughout and the toughness he brings to this "charming" character is something most actors wouldn't have been able to pull off. The chemistry between the two leads certainly make the picture.I do think there are some flaws with the picture including it running five or ten-minutes too long. I think the predictable ending could have happened a little quicker but this is just a minor issue in an otherwise terrific film. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is a landmark in Hollywood history and it deserves its reputation.

richspenc This is a great early road film. It is one of Gable's best after "Gone with the wind". Claudette Colbert, who is really beautiful, plays a controlled rich man's daughter who, after a bitter dispute, dives (very smooth and skillfully) off their rich yatcht, hops on a bus, and goes from Miami to New York to be with her fiancé that her super controlling dad is trying to stop her from marrying. Claudette is a grown woman, her fiancé is not a criminal or anything, he's just someone her dad just personally dislikes. So I am on Claudette's side and I feel that her dad was controlling to an unecceptable level, he was sending out detectives after her, that's just not OK considering the circumstances. Getting away from her dad's home was not illegal since she was a grown woman.Claudette meets Clark on the bus through interesting and humorous circumstances. I loved all the wit and repitour between the two. Clark's hilarious responses to the uptight bus driver saying "oh yeah?". Clark finding out the truth about Claudette and him blackmailing her to both help get her to her fiancé and to get his newspaper editor job back, cause he'll have a good story on her, and many other great and funny situations and dialogue between the two of them. The moment in the cabin when Claudette's dad's detectives were looking for her, and she and Clark put on a last minute act to fool them,them yelling at each other and then Clark telling the detectives "too bad you're not looking for a plumber's daughter!"(Claudette earlier said " I'd trade places with a plumber's daughter any day"). The character of Shipley, I completely understood Claudette's reaction, Shipley was annoying. And then Clark lying to Shiply about being a gangster to scare him away, since he threatened to butt in front of Clark to grab half the $10,000 reward of returning her to her dad. The way Shiply ran off was the first funny thing he did. Then Clark and Claudette ditch the bus while saying "when Shiply stops running, he will start thinking". I liked the night time scene next where they set up camp outside, and Claudette lying back in the hay with the moonlight shining on her face, a nice old fashioned feel it gave. I also enjoyed the hitch hiking talk between them. Clark showing her all the different thumb signals, then him not being able to get any stoppers. Then Claudette pulling her dress to her knee and the first car seeing her stops. Claudette then tells Clark "goes to show, the leg's mightier than the thumb. Clark: " why didn't you take off all your clothes? We coulda stopped 40 cars". Claudette: "I'll remember that the next time we need 40 cars". Hilarious. I'm not sure if this film was pre or post code but there were a couple sort of pre code references. Clark, while pretending to sleep, laying his hand facing up on the seat next to him when he sees Claudette coming back to sit there, Clark demonstrating to Claudette in what order he undresses as he's doing so in front of her, and his talk about "the walls of Jerihco". None of those things were anything as risky as what you have today, but there are a lot of pre code films that were considered risky by 1930s standards and not so risky today. Anyway, except for Claudette's dad's actions being too far, this film was great. And I loved the bus scene where everybody is singing to " Man on flying trapeze", that scene really reminded me of this film being an older, more simple time.