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Capturing its stars and director at their finest, It Happened One Night remains unsurpassed by the countless romantic comedies it has inspired.
All Critics (56) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (1) | DVD (4)
It's all about the snappy dialogue and simmering tension between these hugely charismatic stars. Sep 5, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
It's all about the snappy dialogue and simmering tension between these hugely charismatic stars.
Christy Lemire
A charming, human, believable story, with charming, human, believable characters. Feb 26, 2018 | Full Review…
A charming, human, believable story, with charming, human, believable characters.
THR Staff
It's probably more historically important than it is a masterpiece (the last 20 minutes take the missed conections and misunderstandings an inch too far), but it's still very easy to fall in love with. Feb 22, 2015 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
It's probably more historically important than it is a masterpiece (the last 20 minutes take the missed conections and misunderstandings an inch too far), but it's still very easy to fall in love with.
David Jenkins
The direction is excellent. Frank Capra never lets his picture lag for a moment. It is never very exciting, but it moves along snappily and it is full of amusing situations. Feb 17, 2015 | Full Review…
The direction is excellent. Frank Capra never lets his picture lag for a moment. It is never very exciting, but it moves along snappily and it is full of amusing situations.
Kate Cameron
Perhaps not the greatest of the screwball comedies, but Frank Capra's It Happened One Night is one of the racier. Dec 10, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Perhaps not the greatest of the screwball comedies, but Frank Capra's It Happened One Night is one of the racier.
Wendy Ide
As buoyant and elegant as bubbles in a glass of champagne, Frank Capra's sublime 1934 comedy... survives triumphantly because of its wit, charm, romantic idealism and its shrewd sketch of married life. Feb 3, 2014 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
As buoyant and elegant as bubbles in a glass of champagne, Frank Capra's sublime 1934 comedy... survives triumphantly because of its wit, charm, romantic idealism and its shrewd sketch of married life.
Peter Bradshaw
I have seen Claudette Colbert better cast. She has too much character to suggest a helpless heiress who has never been allowed out alone before. However, most of the acting is excellent, and Frank Capra's direction is full of effective touches. Feb 7, 2019 | Full Review…
I have seen Claudette Colbert better cast. She has too much character to suggest a helpless heiress who has never been allowed out alone before. However, most of the acting is excellent, and Frank Capra's direction is full of effective touches.
Charles Davy
It Happened One Night is as lively, witty and romantic as ever. Buoyed up by dual performances from two of the era's greats, Capra's film maintains its status as a classic. Apr 18, 2016 | Rating: 5/5
It Happened One Night is as lively, witty and romantic as ever. Buoyed up by dual performances from two of the era's greats, Capra's film maintains its status as a classic.
Christopher Machell
It's sweet, cheerful, funny, and very, very good. Feb 23, 2016 | Full Review…
It's sweet, cheerful, funny, and very, very good.
Witney Seibold
One of the best comedies of its era, with a rich inventiveness of character and situation. Nov 30, 2015 | Full Review…
One of the best comedies of its era, with a rich inventiveness of character and situation.
Michael E. Grost
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night was a film that defied expectations to such an outrageous extent that the cinema has never fully recovered from its impact or influence. Apr 16, 2015 | Full Review…
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night was a film that defied expectations to such an outrageous extent that the cinema has never fully recovered from its impact or influence.
Nathanael Hood
Viewed even today with all of its plot elements recycled ad nauseam by Hollywood (for rom-coms, road trip comedies, odd couple/buddy films, etc.), the film still holds up because we believe Gable and Colbert and can identify with them both right away. Dec 9, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
Viewed even today with all of its plot elements recycled ad nauseam by Hollywood (for rom-coms, road trip comedies, odd couple/buddy films, etc.), the film still holds up because we believe Gable and Colbert and can identify with them both right away.
Eric Melin
This charming classic may be the very first screwball comedy of Cinema, a funny, amusing and optimistic movie with a deliciously sharp dialogue and wonderful performances from Gable and Colbert, who have a great onscreen chemistry together.
Super Reviewer
Frank Capra's road trip from Miami to New York is actually a poem to everyday America and Americans (your unwashed masses) and laced throughout with vignettes of common people simply enjoying life ... practically the blueprint for Hollywood gold. Remember James Cameron's Titanic? Well, here is where he stole the central theme. Gable and Colbert are great as the surrogates for us in this tale, he as the jack-of-all-trades everyman, and she as the princess who finds her Prince Charming is closer than she thinks. It never gets old, the scene in the bedroom still laced with agonizingly palpable tension, even after all these years.
Colbert and Gable hated making it and it ended up being one of Hitler's favorite films, but Capra's perfectly scripted romantic comedy has a stamp of glorious old-Hollywood quality.
With the company of a charming newspaperman, a woman flees her father to marry a man whom her father disapproves of. I've finally found a Frank Capra film that I don't find so saccharine that I found myself rolling my eyes all the way up into my cranium. This is not to say that this film has any great substance. It's a high-energy, madcap farce that has just enough pathos to keep it from becoming Bringing Up Baby and just enough fun to keep Capra from making great pronouncements of life and morality. I thought that the characters' changes, particularly on the father's part, were too convenient, and Peter's near-abuse of Ellie makes it odd that she would have any great affection for him. Overall, though the film often defies credulity, it is one of my favorite Capra films, and I'm glad that I can finally like one of his movies.
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