It Happened One Night

 

It Happened One Night

The 1930s was the best years of America. It was the golden age of Hollywood. Capra directed It Happened One Night in 1934. Is it a road movie? Is it a screwball comedy? Is it a romantic comedy? What is so unique about this film? Clark Gabel and Claudette Colbert are at their own best. The film represents all aspects of America that Capra is in love with. He is standing somewhere between conservative and radical American policies. Is the film criticizing the American high-class style of life or is it the film that admires all aspects of American capitalism? Is there a reconciliation between America's low and high classes in the movie? Is the film celebrating American idealism and democratic values? The film is full of moments and dialogue that have the reason to provoke the American audience to ask themselves Who they are as American citizens. While Capra's American idealism with democratic values can be traced and detected throughout the film, the question remains: can these values establish a better way of life?  

The film was made before the Hays Code but the marriage between the couple is the moralistic resolution of the narrative. Gable and Colbert are two different creatures from two crucial social classes. While Gable is an extroverted character, Colbert is an introverted one. The romantic relationship between the characters solves the social gap between them. 

In terms of sexual representation in cinema in the pre-code era, the film can be deciphered and interpreted in many ways. The famous scenes of hitchhiking, the night scenes in the rented rooms, and the final scenes of the film are the reasons why the film is so important as the artistic work of the pre-code era. The feministic reading of the film also emphasizes that Colbert has no choice between her father, her fiancé, and the man she loves.

A note: by Morad Sadeghi