Filmhouse/New Kalamata Cinema Club-IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

Ellie Andrews, a wealthy heiress, runs away to marry the man she loves, but on the way, she meets Peter Warne, an ambitious reporter. He sees her story as his big opportunity, but their conflicts become more profound as they journey together. With obstacles, misunderstandings and twists testing them, the moment comes when they must decide: will they follow their destiny or be lost forever?

“It Happened One Night” was the only film to sweep all five major awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director) until “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975. Its success is mainly due to the compelling performances of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert – she as a wealthy heiress who has run away from home, and he as the journalist who meets her on the street.

The story is a model for its genre. Still, it is worth remembering for two classic scenes, both of which were considered quite sensual and daring for their time: in the first, Colbert lifts her skirt to show her stocking and stops a car with a hitchhiker, and in the second, when they are forced to spend the night together in the same room. Gable appears bare-chested, but hangs a blanket between them (“the walls of Jericho!”) to respect her modesty, even though he seems more embarrassed than she is.

Colbert’s boldness placed her among the female actors who were considered dynamic and feminists in their time, such as Davis, Hepburn, Crawford and Stanwyck.
It is a fantastic screwball comedy from the 1930s, with a clever script by Robert Riskin (based on a story published in Cosmopolitan magazine) and excellent pacing by the great director Frank Capra.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Comedy, Romance | 10+ | 1934 | USA | 105’
Directed by: Frank Capra
Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
21:00 | Vista Marina| General admission is 5 euros, admission is 3 euros for the unemployed, students and families with many children, and free for under 18s