IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (DVD/P&S 1.33/MONO/ENG-PO-CH-KO-TH-SUB/SP-BOTH) DVD

It Happened One Night
Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), despite her father (Walter Connolly)'s objections. To keep Ellie from marrying this lothario, her father has been holding her prisoner aboard his yacht. But Ellie bolts from the yacht, swims ashore in her clothes, and eventually slips onto a Greyhound bus bound for New York. Aboard the bus is newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who has recently been fired for drinking on the job. Peter gets the last seat on the bus -- but when he gets up to argue with the bus driver, Ellie takes his seat. Since it is the last seat on the bus, they have to share it. When Ellie has her purse stolen and she refuses to report it, Peter begins to suspect something. The next morning, they both miss the bus after a leisurely breakfast, and Peter reveals that he knows her identity. She makes a deal with him: if he helps her get to New York, he can write a scoop about her for his paper. Peter thinks she is a spoiled brat, however, and refuses a monetary bribe: "I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father -- you're all a lot of hooey to me!" But as they travel northward and engage in a series of misadventures, the gruff newspaperman and the spoiled rich girl, thrown together by circumstances, fall in love with each other. This movie set the pace for the "screwball" comedy, the witty and romantic clash of temperaments between a man and a woman mismatched in both personality and social position, a type of movie often associated with Katherine Hepburn in such classics as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and, with Spencer Tracy, Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957), among others. The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Cast Clark Gable as Peter Warne Claudette Colbert as Ellie Andrews Walter Connolly as Alexander Andrews Roscoe Karns as Oscar Shapeley Jameson Thomas as King Westley Alan Hale as Danker

Crew Stephen Goosson - Art Director Robert Kalloch - Costume Designer Frank Capra - Director Gene Havlick - Editor Louis Silvers - Musical Direction/Supervision Joseph Walker - Cinematographer Frank Capra - Producer Harry Cohn - Producer Edward Bernds - Sound Mixer Robert Riskin - Screenwriter Samuel Hopkins Adams - Book Author

It Happened One Night
Scripted by Capra's frequent collaborator Robert Riskin, Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) became the prototypical screwball comedy and elevated Columbia Pictures from Poverty Row status to respectable "major minor" studio. Starring Clark Gable, on loan from MGM as punishment, and Claudette Colbert, on loan from Paramount for twice her usual pay, Capra's and Riskin's comic romance between a down-to-earth newspaper reporter and a spoiled runaway heiress set the standard for screwball. Its fast-paced repartee, kooky heroine, witty gags, and class-crossing love story became hallmarks of the genre in such later films as My Man Godfrey (1936) and Bringing Up Baby (1938); the overt lustiness barred by the 1934 Production Code was transmuted into clever banter and the romance conveyed an ideal Depression-era fantasy. A critical and commercial hit, It Happened One Night was the first film to sweep the top five Oscars, rewarding Capra, Riskin, Gable, and Colbert, and fulfilling Columbia impresario Harry Cohn's desire to turn his B-studio into a class act. Undershirt sales reportedly plummeted when Gable revealed on screen that he wasn't wearing one. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
 

Clark Gable: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Actor (winner) Claudette Colbert: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Actress (winner) Frank Capra: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Director (winner) Robert Riskin: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Adapted Screenplay (winner)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Picture (winner) American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) Library of Congress, U.S. National Film Registry (winner) National Board of Review, Best Picture (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: Spanish, English Subtitle Options: English, Spanish, Por, KO, TH Sound Processing: DD: Generic Dolby Digital (unspecified format) Additional Features: Frank Capra, Jr. remembers "It Happened One Night" Frank Capra, Jr. audio commentary Digitally remastered audio & video Original live radio broadcast Languages: English, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai Talent files Vintage advertising Original theatrical trailer Bonus trailers DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 105 min Part of Series: Columbia Classics   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 0. Scene Selections 1. Start [1:02] 2. Hunger Strike [2:32] 3. History in the Making [2:25] 4. Last Seats [3:08] 5. Stolen Luggage [3:47] 6. "Wait for Me." [1:39] 7. Missed Connections [3:11] 8. Collect Telegram [:50] 9. "My Name's Shapely." [4:38] 10. Dyke's Auto Camp [3:49] 11. Walls of Jericho [7:31] 12. Ladies' Shower [1:31] 13. Art of Dunking [2:31] 14. "Quit Bawlin'!" [4:51] 15. "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" [4:31] 16. "Machine Gun" Shapely [6:09] 17. Haystacks for Two [5:14] 18. Hitchhiker's Guide [4:30] 19. Road Thief [4:54] 20. Cabin for the Night [1:00] 21. On the Level [9:16] 22. "You'll Have to Get." [1:35] 23. Ellie goes home [3:18] 24. "What's the matter?" [4:28] 25. $39.60 [7:02] 26. The Wedding [4:28] 27. Runaway Bride [2:26] 28. "Let 'em Topple." [:35]