Romantic Comedy Movie It Happened One Night

While doing the research on this movie “It happened one night”, I realized how people’s life changes within a short period of time & how people get used to it. The story was amazingly written and the whole movie was truly praiseworthy. It is one of those romantic comedy movies which caught my attention and made me laugh at the same time. This movie is such an exceptional one that yet nobody could make a remake of this movie.

The plot is based on the August 1933 short story ”Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Robert Riskin turned Samuel Hopkins Adams’s magazine story, Night Bus’, into a screenplay. Undoubtedly Samuel Hopkins Adams was an excellent writer. The film was released on February 22, 1934. This movie won all five major Academy Awards for 1934. In 1993 this movie got selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. In 2013 this film encountered a large-scale restoration.

I found that this movie is a mixture of love, poverty, travel, attraction, performance, nature, power, wealth and above all freedom. I liked this movie so much because it’s not a typical romantic comedy movie. We actually can get to know many things from this movie. The film is in black & white but yet the charm it has is mind-blowing. And it is one of the top 100 romantic movies.

Summary- This is the story of a spoiled heiress Ellen (Ellie) who had married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley. Ellen’s father was not happy with this matter. So, to keep Ellie from marrying that greedy king, her father held her prisoner in his yacht. But Ellie jumped from the yacht, swam ashore in her clothes, and got into a bus to go to New York, where Westley was staying. In the bus she met a newspaper reporter named Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who had recently got fired for drinking during job-time. Peter got the last seat on the bus -- but when he got up to argue with the bus driver he lost his seat, because Ellie took his seat. Since it was the last seat on the bus, Ellen and Peter had to share the seat.

At one point, Ellie lost her purse and she refused to report it. As Peter was a news reporter, he suspected something was wrong and was keeping an eye on her. The next morning, Ellen missed the bus and also found Peter sitting on a bench there. And then Peter reveals that he knew the real identity of Ellen. She told Peter if he helps her get to New York, she can give him a handsome amount of money. Peter thought she was a spoiled brat, and refused to take bribe. He said ”I’m not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father-you’re all a lot of hooey to me”. This indicates that money wasn’t his weak point and he was a man of honor and dignity. He was honest, decent, and not greedy. These characteristics also made Ellen believe Peter and rely on him. 

But during the travel, the newspaperman and the spoiled rich girl were thrown together by circumstances, and finally they fell in love with each other. This witty and romantic clash of temperaments between a man and a woman mismatched in both personality and social position which won people’s heart.

Genre- This movie goes under the criteria of romantic comedy. Romantic movies are also called portmanteaus Romedy or Rom- Com. Rom-com films are a certain genre of comedy films as well as of romance films, and also can have the elements of screwball comedies. Screwball comedy is a subgenre of rom-com films that went viral during the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1040s. This genre basically represents love and humor at the same time. These kinds of movies are very popular and undoubtedly amazing.

Rom- Com is not a single new genre but it’s a mixture of two genres, which are romance and comedy. In romantic typical movies we see young people falling for each other, they are meant for each other and it’s more like a fairy tale. But in Rom-com we can see the mixture of love and a funny portion, and these two make the movie more enjoyable to watch.

Best Scene- When they went for the hitchhiking they finally started getting close to each other. When I searched for the best scene I found it in the hitchhiking part. They got rid of a person who found out about Ellen and wanted to have the reward from her father. He came up with a plan and shared it with Peter so that, they could be partners. Peter very cleverly handled the situation and he ran off along with Ellen. This is where their hitchhiking part started. They landed on ”an interlude in a hayfield where they had to stay for the night, they had no food and no transportation. Yet, they were restrained. The view was totally amazing as the night was tender, romantic, & mysterious.

At one point when they were looking for a transport, Ellen’s idea worked while Peter’s didn’t. She showed off her legs to stop a car and Peter was pretty amazed by that. Then when they stopped at a restaurant, the car driver left them behind and drove with Peter’s bag. Peter ran after the car and somehow caught that guy and took his car. It showed that he was brave enough to fight and get back his things, and also he took that man’s car, so that they could reach New York by driving. Then they went to a hotel room to stay for the night and there Ellen expressed her love and weakness for Peter. Peter was a decent man and that’s why he didn’t take any wrong steps. He thought about what Ellen said and finally realized he also loved her. So, he went out to make some arrangements for their dreamy tour. The visualization was nicely done and it’s really appreciable.

Conclusion- This movie is such an amazing movie and one of the best movies I have ever watched. This movie can simply teach anyone about love, poverty, society, decency, bravery, honesty, power, and how life can change very fast. I think everyone of us must watch this movie at least for once. This is one of those classy movies which will take a place in our hearts without a single doubt.

To achieve our goals we must accept our flaws, do some sacrifices, spend a lot of time to gather knowledge, realize the nature of certain places and people and above all, we need to be patient and grateful for whatever we have and whatever we want to have.