It Happened One Night

The poster from the film

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The film It Happened One Night is one of the very first screwball comedies that Hollywood produced. The film starts Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The film relates to what we talked about in class because they took the sexual situations that were in the silent films and changed it to witty dialogue that happened between the two characters. This film does have sexual tension between the two characters, which is why the film almost did not get the seal of approval to be shown to the mass audiences because of the sexual tension and attraction between the two characters. This film turned all of the very graphic stations that were in the silent film era and changed the sexual tension to be felt verbally rather than seen. They used sound and dialogue instead of sexual scenarios.

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.  

http://parade.com/422583/jerylbrunner/celebrate-claudette-colberts-birthday-with-our-favorite-lines-from-it-happened-one-night/

The article that I found in relation to the film It Happened One Night has to deal with the films leading lady, Claudette Colbert. The article talks about the actress life when she was younger and how she moved to New York from Paris at a young age. The article then goes to talk about how Colbert was a stage actress before she was a hit on the big screen. The article then goes to talk about how Colbert has worked with some of the greatest directors to ever work in Hollywood. It also states how Colbert won the Oscar for her role of Ellie in It Happened One Night.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class

Colbert and Gable in the iconic hitch =hiking scene 

The article relates to the film screened in class by stating how well praised Colbert was for her work on the film. Colbert won the Academy Award for her portrayal of Ellie Andrews. The film also won the other four major awards that year, including best film, actor for Clark Gable, best director and writing. The film was a huge critical success. Colbert and Gable will be one of the big screens greatest on screen couples, forever remembered for their performances in this film. Colbert was a great actress and this film shows the great work that she was able to do on screen.

In this scene the two characters having a witty conversation instead of sex

4) Write a critical analysis of the film

The Film It Happened One Night is one of Hollywood’s first screwball comedies. This film was made after the transition from silent films to “talkies”. This is one of the first films to use dialogue to convey sexual tension, instead of what was used in the silent film era. The silent film era had much nudity and sexual senarios that the characters were involved in, and with the Hays Commission of 22 and the Catholic League of Decency in 34 those days had come to an end. Those films were banned, and what came out of it was the screwball comedy. These films were made because of a strict ban on the sexual scenarios of the silent film era. The films could also use dialogue to replace those situations. This film holds a place in film history because it was one of the first screwball comedies that made its way from the transition of silent films to sound. Without the transition from silent film to sound and the pressure from outside sources to clean up the movies, this film would not exist. This film is very enjoyable and one can see why it is a classic. Like so many films after it, one roots for the couple to fall in love and live happily ever after. This film is a great one and holds an important place in fil history because of the time period it was made and how it helped transition Hollywood into what we know as the screwball comedies.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 



1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 



2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 



4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 



5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 



6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 



7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 



8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.