Reel Memories No. 98 – It Happened one Night

By William V. Reynolds
Columnist

A test of a really great actor is his/her ability to do more than one type of role. For example, John
Wayne was capable of being a serious character, but he was also great at comedy. McClintock
(1963) is an excellent example of that ability. Likewise, Clark Gable was an actor who was good
at a variety of roles. He demonstrates that in the film for today.
It Happened One Night (1934) is an outstanding example of Gable’s ability to do comedy.
Together with Claudette Colbert he certainly delivers. The film would garner five Oscars
including one for Gable (best actor) and Colbert (best actress).
The screwball comedy opens when Ellie Andrews’ (Claudette Colbert) father (Walter Connolly)
snatches her from her new husband, “King” Westley (Jameson Thomas). He is holding her
prisoner on his yacht in Florida when she jumps ship, swims ashore and purchases a bus ticket to
take her back to her new husband in New York City.
Of course, the story makes the papers, and Peter Warne (Clark Gable) identifies her from the
news story. Warne, an out-of-work newspaper reporter, offers to help her get back to New York
if she will give him exclusive rights to her story. She agrees and they go through a number of
misadventures together pretending they’re husband-and-wife. But things in the bedroom are not
so simple. A rope is strung between the two beds with a blanket draped over it. It is
euphemistically referred to as the “walls of Jericho.”
When they get near to New York, Warne seemingly abandons Ellie while he goes to New York
and collects $1000 from his editor for the story. Ellie calls her father who picks her up and
carries her to New York agreeing that she can marry her first husband if that will really make her
happy. Warne shows up at the wedding, but Ellie thinks he has come to claim the $10,000 reward
her father had offered for her return.
Before the wedding can be completed, Ellie’s father convinces her that Warne is the man she
ought to marry. In the final scene of the movie, the couple who rented them their motel room is
discussing whether or not they’re really married. The husband tells his wife that he saw the
marriage license. In the very last shot we learn that, “the walls of Jericho are coming down.”
This film was considered somewhat risqué for its time. It had been made just before new
censorship laws came into effect.
Today we give a reel memories salute to It Happened One Night.
William V. Reynolds is the author of “Murder in the Okefenokee” available at
doubleeagleenterprises.com and Amazon.com or ask for it at your favorite bookstore.