It Happened One Night
Directed by Frank Capra
USA, 1934
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Umpteenth viewing
1001 Movies – #86
Peter Warne: “I want to see what love looks like when it’s triumphant. I haven’t had a good laugh in a week.”
This is my idea of cinematic perfection as produced by Hollywood in 1934. There is not one single thing I would change. Of course, the leads are fabulous but every character actor was the best possible that could have been found. Once seen, Roscoe Karns’ annoying Shapley, Alan Hale’s larcenous flivver driver Danker, and Walter Connelly’s autocratic but loving father will become old friends. Capra, too, had a light touch which he was never again to entirely replicate. My favorite part is “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” scene on the bus.
66 movies I hope to watch for 1934: http://www.imdb.com/list/fmXidXs5FOE/