Why We Love Classic Movies … #08

#08 – Quit Bawlin’! It Happened One Night, 1934 One word. CHEMISTRY. Sure, the movies sizzled before this, but did they have the sort of white-hot, toe-curling chemistry that Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have? Arguably, no. In this scene, the spoiled heiress and hard-boiled reporter improvise a narrow-escape from some noseying detectives. Sure, Colbert’s…

Carley Michelle Hildebrand

April 18, 2010

1–2 minutes

It Happened One Night; Clark Gable; Claudette Colbert; Frank Capra; romantic comedy

#08 – Quit Bawlin’!

It Happened One Night, 1934

One word. CHEMISTRY. Sure, the movies sizzled before this, but did they have the sort of white-hot, toe-curling chemistry that Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have? Arguably, no. In this scene, the spoiled heiress and hard-boiled reporter improvise a narrow-escape from some noseying detectives. Sure, Colbert’s hitchiking episode is more famous, but it is this moment midway through the film when the genre “romantic comedy” is acutally born. Watch it happen:

One response to “Why We Love Classic Movies … #08”

Sir Luke Of Edinburgh

July 6, 2010 at 5:21 pm

Ah, yes. This film is sheer comic brilliance. Clark Gable impressed and surprised me. Come to think of it, the quality of the movie surprised me. I was very pleased.

Have you noticed the (intentional, I think) similarities between its ending and Spaceballs’?

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