EveryBestPicture.com revisits this Oscar Best Picture winner
Frank Capra. Best known for being the man behind 'It's a Wonderful Life'- that Jimmy Stewart movie shown every Christmas about appreciating what you don't know you have. His films have heart, warmth and wit. It Happened One Night was the cinema going public's first sight of a Capra masterpiece.
The story tells of a young woman, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), rebelling from her obscenely rich father, trying to return to a man she married to escape her claustrophobic home life. Short on money, but with plenty of determination she decides to travel cross country by road. It is at the start of this journey that she meets journalist Peter Warne (Clark Gable). Lucky Gal. You may know Clark Gable from his lead role in Gone With the Wind- here he plays a lighter version of Red, while opposite is a lead playing a much more palatable version of Scarlet O'Hara. In a previous review I spoke of the art of the slow build of a romance. It is unusual for me to root for two characters to fall in love (and for them to wake up to it) nearly as much as I did these guys. As time goes on you too fall in love with Gable's assured performance and root for Colbert to join you. This film was a smash hit with critics, audiences and the academy. It was the first to win all 'big five' Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress & Screenplay) and launched Gable, Colbert and Capra to new heights of fame. What makes this film work is undoubtably the chemistry and performances of the two stars and the confidence of the director to let them shine without the need for any clever photography or other distractions. The odd soft focus shot is about as creative as it gets. This was a story that the director was happy to tell through his leads and they rose to the occasion. It is important to note, for reasons I will soon come to, that Colbert held the reigns going in to filming: she reportedly took 5 times the fee that Gable received and insisted that filming be completed within 4 weeks to ensure she could go on a pre-arranged holiday. I love this. It adds a layer to her role as the rich girl and his as the down to earth (and recently fired) journalist trying to hit pay dirt. ...Which brings me to the modern take on all this. The gender roles are very old fashioned, as you might expect, with the wilting leading lady hardest to overlook. The very best scenes are when Colbert, the actress, outshines Ellie, the character- the actress who, as discussed earlier, called most of the shots and was in complete control of her destiny before and during the production. She often steals a scene with what is frankly a fairly weak script for an actress and that is when the magic happens. No doubt this is what won her Oscar. It is easy to fall into thinking Clark Gable leads in quality, but it's when Colbert STOPS looking down at her toes or gazing into Gables eyes hoping to be saved from her privileged life that you begin to really root for her, and invest yourself in the outcome of the film. To enjoy this picture you will have to forgive the light sexism in the form of Ellie's weaknesses and remember that the damsel in distress act is not as beguiling as the strength of the actress behind the performance. She is there, if you want to find her, and the experience will be all the richer for it. |
Previous ReviewsComing soon:Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
AuthorPablo Griffiths is a man with a passion for many things. He has recently taken an interest in writing about film, and himself in the third person. |