Film Spotlight: It Happened on this Day!

“Take me to your island.  I want to do all those things you talked about. . . .  I love you.  Nothing else matters.”

The forerunner, the grandparent of screwball comedies It Happened One Night opened at New York's Radio City Music Hall on this day February 22, 1934!

The charming pre-code film, directed by Frank Capra, with a screenplay by Robert Riskin, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, soared on to become 1934's most notable success.

Based on a story by Samuel Hopkins Adams, a headstrong heiress (Ellie) finds herself on a road trip of discovery with an unemployed cynical newspaper reporter (Peter). A runaway bride, he offers to help her reunite with her soon-to-be husband in exchange for an exclusive story, leading to an unexpected romance.  Due to the 1930 Hays Code being in force while the film was shot, its implied sexual content was primarily expressed with witty banter and innuendo.

The film focuses on traditional gender roles and the Great Depression. The ignorance that Ellie has of lower-class struggles highlights the difficulties they face. Coming from different economic worlds, their characters have very different experiences and understandings of the world. Their love for each other transforms them, providing a renewed spirit and the possibility that social divisions can be bridged.

 

On loan from MGM, Gable didn't bother to read the script. He arrived on the first day of shooting drunk and just wanted "it over with". Capra reprimanded him and he was cooperative and sober for the rest of the shoot. After not getting along with Capra in an earlier film For the Love of Mike (1927), Colbert accepted the part for double the salary, and a quick filming schedule so she could leave on vacation. Despite their shared could not care attitude, dissatisfaction with the script, and Colbert giving Capra a hard time, the film is perfection. Since both spend the majority of their screen time together, they needed to exude chemistry from the get-go. And they sure did! They give the film a relaxed quality that's light, funny, and refreshing to watch. The studio didn't have faith in the film so they barely promoted it. But after word of mouth and expanding through the States, Columbia earned over $2.5 million back on its $325,000 budget and another two million in theatrical rentals. It was the first film to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay.

 

 

 

 

 

 On the Set with Gable, Colbert & Director Frank Capra

 

Did you know this was Bugs Bunny's creator Friz Freleng's favorite film and he based Bugs on Gable's mannerisms of eating carrots and talking quickly at the same time?

There was going to be a stunt double used for Colbert since it was immodest to show her leg. When she saw the stunt double, she said, "That's not what my leg looks like!" and insisted on using her leg.

 

Actresses considered for the lead role were Myrna Loy who hated the script and said "Claudette had the legs for it”. Loretta Young was suggested but Capra said No. Miriam Hopkins, who supposedly called it “just a silly comedy.” Sorry, Bette Davis, Warner Bros. won't lend you out. Carole Lombard wasn't available. Constance Bennett and Margaret Sullavan also said No. Eventually, Columbia's Harry Cohn suggested Colbert. 1934 was a great year for Colbert, appearing in two of the year's highest-grossing films Cleopatra and It Happened One Night.

 

Legend has it, there was a large decrease in undershirt sales around the country when Gable in the undressing scene had trouble removing his. As a result, some underwear manufacturers tried to sue Columbia.

 

 

 

 

 

 Actors considered for the lead actor was Robert Montgomery, who turned it down saying "the script was the worst thing he had ever read". And  Fredric March who also refused the part.

 

 

 

 

The fine supporting cast includes the likes of Walter Connolly and Roscoe Karns.

Colbert decided not to attend the ceremony since she felt she would not win. She thought it was the "worst picture in the world" and planned to take a cross-country train trip. After she was named the winner, studio chief Harry Cohn sent someone to get her off the train and to take her to the ceremony. Colbert arrived wearing a suit that she had Paramount Pictures costume designer, Travis Banton, make for her trip. Despite the animosity toward Capra, she thanked him in her acceptance speech.

Shirley Temple presents the Best Actress Oscar to actress Claudette Colbert for her role in, "It Happened One Night"

 

Gable gave his Oscar to a child who admired it. The child returned it to the Gable family after Clark's death. On December 15, 1996, Gable's Oscar was auctioned off to Steven Spielberg for $607,500, who donated the statuette to the Motion Picture Academy.

 

"We made the picture quickly--four weeks. We stumbled through it, we laughed our way through it. And this goes to show you how much luck and timing and being in the right place at the right time means in show business; how sometimes no preparation at all is better than all the preparation in the world, and sometimes you need great preparation, but you can never out-guess this thing called creativity. It happens in the strangest places and under the strangest of circumstances. I didn't care much for the picture, ] it turned out to be 'It Happened One Night'." ---Director Frank Capra

 

The picture was the first to win the five most esteemed Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was remade several times: Musicals, Eve Knew Her Apples (1945) and You Can't Run Away from It (1956). And Indian films Chandrodayam 91966), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991) and Hudugaata (2007).