Christy by Request — It Happened One Night

What further wisdom could I possibly impart about “It Happened One Night,” one of the most celebrated, imitated and adored pieces of classic cinema? All I can do is add my voice to the chorus of praises it’s deservedly earned over the past 80-plus years, and swoon at the sexy, sparky chemistry between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

“It Happened One Night” is a movie I first saw a long time ago as a kid, at an age when I was far too young to appreciate it. I’ve written before about the huge influence my parents had on me movie-wise, and how sharing their very different tastes ended up shaping the career path I’ve followed. While my mother’s preferences ran toward Fellini and the Coen brothers, my father was more of traditionalist, with a fondness for old-school leading men like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and Gable. I hadn’t revisited Frank Capra’s 1934 romantic comedy — the first film to sweep the top five Oscar categories of best picture, director, screenplay, actor and actress — in many years. So when it came up as the latest Christy by Request title — the suggestion of Barry Deacon (@ShieldJock on Twitter) — I was thrilled to revisit it, especially as a longtime film critic. (Barry also was kind enough to choose Bicycle Thieves and The Lives of Others for me to review.)

What struck me now watching “It Happened One Night” was how much of a template it provided for countless other romantic comedies on screens big and small for decades to come, from “The Philadelphia Story” to TV’s “Moonlighting” to this summer’s “Destination Wedding.” The idea of a guy and a gal who initially can’t stand each other but secretly desire each other seems as old as time. (See: “The Taming of the Shrew.”) But in Robert Riskin’s script, based on the short story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams, it feels new, alive and irresistible. The banter between Colbert’s runaway heiress Ellie Andrews and Gable’s grizzled newsman Peter Warne positively pops off the screen. We know from the second they meet where the road trip they’re stuck sharing is headed, but as the saying goes, the journey truly is the destination.

There actually isn’t much plot here, in retrospect, but the plot isn’t really the point. It’s all about the snappy dialogue and simmering tension between these hugely charismatic stars. The spoiled, smart-ass Ellie has escaped the clutches of her wealthy father (Walter Connolly) to protest his disapproval of the pretty-boy aviator she’s married (Jameson Thomas). The frequently inebriated Peter, who’s recently been canned from his newspaper job yet again, smells a scoop when he realizes he’s sitting next to Ellie on an overnight Greyhound Bus headed from Miami to New York. (The quaint notion that a socialite scandal garners front-page headlines for a week is a reminder of what an escape this film must have been in the midst of the Great Depression.)

Sparks fly immediately between these two headstrong individuals. But “It Happened One Night” is also surprisingly racy, in case you hadn’t seen it in a while (or ever). A pre-Hays Code production, it features the thoroughly gratuitous sight of the hunky Gable with his shirt off in the roadside cabin Peter and Ellie are forced to share along the way (not that anyone’s complaining). Ellie also must endure some some lewd come-ons from the annoying, fast-talking passenger (Roscoe Karns) she’s trapped next to for part of the bus trip.

But as Peter and Ellie get under one another’s skin — and wear down one another’s defenses — they also use the animosity that’s building between them to their advantage, as they do in a key scene in which they pretend to be a bickering married couple to fend off the police. The two characters slip into these roles with melodrama and elan, but there’s unmistakable honesty within the intimacy they seem prepared to share with each other. Ellie gets to experience the simpler life she dreams of as a plumber’s daughter, if only for a few moments. It’s a nifty tightrope they walk.

Even as the film’s screwball machinations kick into a higher gear and the hunt for Ellie intensifies, Capra and Riskin find some sly moments of surreal humor and unexpected, lovely grace notes. Among them is Peter and Ellie arguing about what exactly constitutes a piggyback ride as he carries her over his shoulder across a river: “Take Abraham Lincoln — a natural-born piggybacker!” Peter shouts. It’s a delightfully absurd bit in the midst of crisis. I’m also fond of the sight of Peter sitting in a stolen convertible at a railroad crossing, smiling and waving at a passing train car full of hobos as he’s waiting to hurry back to Ellie. And the lighting can often be quite lovely during the film’s quieter times, as it is when the moonlight caresses Ellie’s shoulders and plays across her eyes when she and Peter are forced to sleep outside.

But the key moment in “It Happened One Night” — and its enduring, signature image — is, of course, Ellie hiking up her skirt and flashing her shapely leg to flag down a passing car on the roadside. Whether or not you’ve seen the whole film, you’ve surely seen this image, and it’s a charmer every time. Colbert had a playful and prickly presence leading up to this moment, but here she turns her movie-star radiance on full blast. The hitchhiking scene is the entire film in a microcosm. He talks a lot and swaggers about but doesn’t really accomplish anything; she’s bemused and annoyed, then reveals an element of her personality that defies his expectations of her. In this case, she does so quite literally.

Along those lines, the speech Ellie’s father gives her as she’s walking down the aisle (for a second time) is just perfect. It beautifully blends the pragmatic and the romantic, just like the movie itself.