Clark Gable,
Claudette Colbert,
Walter Connolly,
Roscoe Karns,
Jameson Thomas
... see more
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 marri... read more
Directed by: Frank Capra
Release Date: February 22, 1934
DVD Release Date: December 28, 1999
Stats: 2,091 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (2,091)
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June 11, 2013
With the company of a charming newspaperman, a woman flees her father to marry a man whom her father disapproves of.
I've finally found a Frank Capra film that I don't find so saccharine that I found myself rolling my eyes all the way up into my cranium. This is not to say that ... read more -
November 8, 2012
This charming classic may be the very first screwball comedy in Cinema, a funny, amusing and optimistic film with a deliciously sharp dialogue and wonderful performances from both Gable and Colbert - who have a great onscreen chemistry together.
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September 24, 2012
A classic movie that's the trumpet that tore down the walls of Jericho for me. "It Happened One Night" has it all: genuine tension, laughs, and character development to make even the most critical movie critic giggle with glee. Pure movie-making magic here. With a very slim narra... read more
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December 1, 2011
"I wouldn't be caught dead with you!" I think, is the opening gambit that's the essential bedrock of all rom-coms (and then watching both parties swallow those fervent words-from-the-heart) and this, perhaps the first rom-com, does not disappoint. Throw in a little class strugg... read more
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November 13, 2011fb1664868775It Happened One Night is the original romantic comedy, and still the best (and the funniest).
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July 22, 2011
This film was the first to win the Big Five (picture, actor, actress, director, screenplay) at the Oscars. It's also often lauded as one of the sminal screwball comedies of the 30s.
While I did enjoy this film, I found it to be merely really good instead of outstanding. Maybe t... read more -
December 7, 2010
A classic film! So glad I finally had the opportunity to watch this film. It represents a turning point in Hollywood. This is the first true romcom. Claudette Colbert is fantastic here! I love the motel scene, hilarious!
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September 12, 2010
The first comedy to win an Oscar! If that's not a good enough reason to see this movie, remember that Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are in the movie too, and they're so great together in this movie. This movie is really fun and entertaining.
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August 2, 2010
The first movie to take home the Oscar blockbuster, it's a beautiful film above love, pride, and the dephs to which we have to go for that one person.
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June 3, 2010
Peter Warne: A simple story about simple people.
Often credited as the first romantic screwball comedy, this is a great film that easily holds up to today. The lead performances are wonderful due to how charmingly smug Gable is and the banter between him and Colbert; the story i... read more
Critic Reviews
One of those stories that without a particularly strong plot manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and direction. Full Review
This is Capra at his best, very funny and very light, with a minimum of populist posturing. Full Review
Capra's sense of humour is a little like that of Preston Sturges, though less caustic; and the film shows its stars at their best, Colbert as one of Hollywood's fresher comediennes, Gable as dumb-but-... Full Review
It Happened One Night is a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes. Full Review
Its opposites-attract melding of screwball comedy and the road trip elements has become one of about a half-dozen standard love story formulas. Most years, there's at least one theatrical release that... Full Review
Gable and Colbert have charm to spare, and even though the tropes are well-worn and have been mishandled poorly by every by-the-book chick flick of the last 15 years, it still isn't enough to keep thi... Full Review
Among the more gratifying phenomena of the current season has been the growing recognition of It Happened One Night, the Frank Capra production of last year, as one of the few potential classics of th... Full Review
Still one of the best screwball comedies. Full Review
A screwball comedy with charm and sass it established a template that countless films have followed down the decades. Full Review
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