Tag: It Happened One Night

Cinema St. Louis Hosting an Online Screening of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT May 19th

Join Cinema St. Louis for their free online movie club! Since we can’t watch a film together on the big screen, Cinema St. Louis invites you to come together to share our love of cinema from the comfort of your own home. Every other week Cinema St. Louis will select a film available on a streaming service and host the discussion on Facebook.

Cinema St. Louis will be hosting an Online Screening of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT this Monday (May 19th) at 7:30pm(CT). Diane Carson, Ph.D., professor emerita, and reviewer of films for more than 25 years, covering Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, Palm Springs, and Sundance festivals, will be talking about the film on Facebook Live. For more details go to the Facebook invite HERE

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT concerns an heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who runs away from her father to join her new husband, society aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas). On the bus, she meets a reporter named Peter Warne (Clark Gable) who is down on his luck. The strike a bargain: Peter can have an exclusive on Ellie’s story if he’ll help her get to New York. After 80 years, the charm of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT still holds up in part because Capra throws in some cool period Americana detail; scenes take place at depression-era rest stops, trailer parks, and on highways. Though many actors turned down the lead roles, the combination of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is perfect. Gable is an appropriately gruff know-it-all with plenty of sex appeal while Colbert is beautiful, spoiled and uppity.  And even peripheral fans of the film have heard that when Gable undressed and was wearing no undershirt, sales of undershirts plummeted. Perhaps a little less well known is that Gable’s standing by a fence talking with a carrot in his mouth is allegedly the inspiration for Bugs Bunny. The most famous scene, of course, is Gable demonstrating how to hitch a ride and failing and Colbert lifting her skirt to get one immediately. Hot stuff back in ’34! The supporting cast includes Walter Connolly as Ellie’s father, Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale and Ward Bond.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT – This Saturday at the Hi-Pointe – Classic Film Series

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“Well you’ve shown me an excellent example of the hiking part. When does the hitching come in?”

Frank Capra’s 1934 film IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT was the first film to win the Oscar “grand slam” (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Screenplay) and  is considered a pioneer of the screwball comedy genre. Lucky St. Louisans will have the chance to see it on the big screen when it plays next Saturday, February 8th at The Hi-Pointe Theater at 10:30am as part of their Classic Film Series.

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IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT concerns an heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who runs away from her father to join her new husband, society aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas). On the bus, she meets a reporter named Peter Warne (Clark Gable) who is down on his luck. The strike a bargain: Peter can have an exclusive on Ellie’s story if he’ll help her get to New York.

After 80 years, the charm of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT still holds up in part because Capra throws in some cool period Americana detail; scenes take place at depression-era rest stops, trailer parks, and on highways. Though many actors turned down the lead roles, the combination of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is perfect. Gable is an appropriately gruff know-it-all with plenty of sex appeal while Colbert is beautiful, spoiled and uppity.  And even peripheral fans of the film have heard that when Gable undressed and was wearing no undershirt, sales of undershirts plummeted. Perhaps a little less well known is that Gable’s standing by a fence talking with a carrot in his mouth is allegedly the inspiration for Bugs Bunny. The most famous scene, of course, is Gable demonstrating how to hitch a ride and failing and Colbert lifting her skirt to get one immediately. Hot stuff back in ’34! The supporting cast includes Walter Connolly as Ellie’s father, Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale and Ward Bond.

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You can see IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT this Saturday morning (February 8th) at 10:30am at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater as part of their Classic Film Series. The Hi-Pointe is located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117.

Admission is only $5.

The Hi-Pointe’s website is HERE

http://hi-pointetheatre.com/

And check out his IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT trailer:

Try It Out Thursday: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

I would not be a movie geek if it weren’t for classic movies.  My dad was a huge movie buff and would see something on the tv that the family had to sit down and watch. And that was my introduction to classic movies.  I am going to pass along some titles that I think are must sees.  If you have recommendations for me I would love to hear from you.

One of my favorite movie genres is the screwball comedy. Screwball comedies have a set of defining characteristics: rapid dialogue, nonsensical situations and some form of courtship that leads to marriage or remarriage. Many of these characteristics are evident in today’s Romantic Comedies.  Its beginning is credited with the film IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT in 1934. The film starred Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.  It was directed by Frank Capra. The story revolves around an heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who defies her father, Alexander Andrews (Walter Connelly), by marrying a fortune hunter, King Westley (Jameson Thomas).  The father wants to annul the marriage, so Ellie runs away, by bus, loses all her money and meets up with a journalist, Peter Warne (Clark Gable).  The situations that arise along the journey from Florida to New York are hilarious.   This movie is also credited with making undershirts unpopular.  Watch the film to discover why.  The film was a sleeper at the box office but word of mouth helped to make it the top box office success for Paramount.  It went on to win 5 Academy Awards: Outstanding Production, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Writing Adaptation.  If you haven’t seen the film, let me know how you like it.  If you have seen it, watch it again and enjoy.