For the first time since Wings, we've seen a Best Picture winner that was actually engaging throughout. It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable is a rom com, the last before the MPAA cracked down on things like sexual innuendos and bare chested men. This one actually felt like a movie to us: there was actual acting instead of people just speak-shouting lines as has been the tendency in Best Picture movies that were talkies. There was a plot that was tight and didn't meander. The writing was good and got in some witty lines.
Clark Gable plays a smarmy (I seem to use that word a lot in these reviews) reporter who is a bit of an asshole in a clever sort of way. He meets on a bus traveling from Florida to New York a spoiled heiress played by Claudette Colbert who has run away from her father to impulsively marry a man that she loves but is unaware he is only marrying her for her money. In exchange for his help reaching New York undetected by her father, she agrees to give the reporter an exclusive on her story. Of course they go from fighting to falling in love. There is the classic rom com misunderstanding that threatens to keep them apart forever (including the "what do you mean he didn't take the reward for my safe return? that means he loves me!" that Spaceballs later directly parodies. In fact, Spaceballs could be considered a loose sci fi remake that of course parodies a lot of other things in the process) but eventually they sort that out.
There are of course some misogynistic things that might be a little uncomfortable for the modern audience (including ass-slapping as punishment when the woman is a little too sassy and Clark Gable's character starts off as kind of a creeper who won't hear "leave me alone"), but this was made in 1934 and women, especially wealthy women, were still largely viewed as delicate objects who needed a man to look after them. Claudette Colbert's character has spunk, and she sets off on her own to traverse the entire East Coast by herself despite her sheltered upbringing, so she does have an independent streak and proves decently resourceful once she's done making naive mistakes.
Watched: July 1, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment