With the Uncanny X-Periment winding down and with inspiration from my lovely fiancée (who has decided to watch every single Johnny Depp movie; she’s a little crazy), I’ve decided to launch a new project. In the past year, my fiancée and I have taken an interest in classic movies. This has usually meant a grab bag of films – some good, some not so good. I’ve always had an interest in classic films, but as someone who’s a little older and has taken filmmaking courses (okay, just two or three), I thought it was time to take that interest one step further.
During the Oscars last week, they had a montage of clips from movies that had won for best film. I immediately turned to my lovely dearest and declared “I will watch every single one of these!”
A few days of DVRing later, and I’ve got a couple. I’ll be up-dating when I can. I can’t guarantee when exactly. I also won’t be going in any sort of order. Kinda randomly, though you will of course see that earlier movies will come earlier, I suppose.
Let’s start with . . .
It Happened One Night (1934)
It Happened One Night is a comedy about a New York City rich girl named Ellie Andrews who goes off and marries a man by the name of King Wesley – who her Wall Street Tycoon father absolutely hates. Being tailed by bodyguards and private investigators, Ellie seeks to return to New York via bus (“She would never take the bus!” proclaim the PIs). It’s on this bus she meets the recently fired reporter Peter Warne, who sees Ellie as a story that could get him his job back. Turns out she’s the Paris Hilton of her day.
He befriends and eventually begins to look after her, trying to make sure she makes it back to King Wesley (not a real king) all right and that he has a story to write. As they travel, the pair have various adventures, including an encounter with the annoying Oscar Shapeley; a number of stays at Motor Camps and motels; and hitchhiking. Eventually, as one would guess, Peter and Ellie fall in love with each other. However, when Peter goes into the city to get some money to help him seem like a better prospect, Ellie believes that he has abandoned him and goes back to Wesley. Peter then believes that she dumped him, but with help from her father, the two find each other again.
When I first saw this film, I was really quite surprised that it had won an Oscar for best picture. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s funny, it’s witty, it’s well-acted . . . but I was just surprised. Having never seen its competition, I couldn’t rightly judge it against the other films nominated that year. I watched the movie in total three times and it was this last time that I started to see why it won.
There’s a lot of subtly here. The characters (all of them) are incredibly well defined. Ellie is a rich bitch who claims she’s not spoiled, but she is. We all know she is. Even when she says she’s not, she knows she is. Claudette Colbert brings Ellie to life. How easy would it have been to just shove an actress into the role and say “Hey, you’re going to be a spoiled brat who falls in love with a reporter?” But what Colbert brings to the table is stupendous acting. She makes Ellie cute and well-realized. Flawed, real.
Her male counter-part, Clarke Gable’s Peter Warne, is just as well done. He fills out the role for “kind of a jerk, but kind of desperate” very well. Peter’s creepy, a little manipulative, and arrogant . . . but as we see, the more time he spends with Ellie, the more he’s trying to show off. Trying to impress her. Gable makes it seem like Peter doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. But again, we know it. It’s subtle. Just under the surface.
The direction on the part of the Frank Capra is his usual great standard. He has a great way of making things seem more real than you’d think and has a mastery of the craft – especially back in those days. Capra delivers Robert Biskin’s enjoyable script with energy and all the gusto he can manage.
It’s the four major elements (actress, actor, script, and direction) that brings this movie together. Without these people on this film, it would have been okay. But with them, not only do each deserve their Oscar, but it brings in the big prize.
