It Happened One Night was produced in a time where the U.S was still in depths of the Great Depression. It was directed by Frank Capra, who was considered to be the most prominent filmmaker of the 1930s, during which he had won three Academy Awards as best director (Barson). His most-endured and beloved films were made during the Great Depression; thus, his works tended to reflect the day’s attitudes towards economic inequality and moral codes. Capra began his long association with Columbia Pictures in 1928, which was one of the so-called Poverty Row studios. This was because of the studio’s lack of “financial wherewithal, big-name contract actors, and prestige of major studios such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Paramount, and Warner Brothers.” (Barson)
During his first year at Columbia, Capra began to direct several romantic comedies on B-film budgets, one of which was The Matinee Idol, a film “whose tension between big-city and small-town values anticipated some of Capra’s signature later works.”
With his production of It Happened One Night in 1934, Capra was considered to be the pioneer of the screwball comedy genre. Despite being produced on a low-budget and receiving minimal publicity, the film’s unexpected success marked Capra’s “golden period,” as it became the first film to win an Academy Award in five major categories: best picture, best actor, best actress, best director, and best-adapted screenplay. The film set the framework of the screwball comedy, which future films such as Bringing up Baby and The Philadelphia Story followed (Hark 123).
The film featured fast-paced dialogue and rapidly escalating plots, and a focus on the comedy of conflict. This would be a conflict between principles, ideologies, and genders ("1934: It Happened" 1:44). The fast-paced repartee, a plot driven by farcical situations towards courtship and marriage, and the depiction of social classes in conflict became elements of the Screwball comedy. The escapist theme of a male character in a low social class finding his problems in life (ex. Losing his job) resolved through romance with a woman of the upper-class appealed to the audience of the 1930s, as it transported them to a world of adventure, love, and luxury from their daily burdens caused by the Great Depression. The narrative was also satisfactory to the audience, as while it portrayed the everday working classes more honest and moral than their wealthy counterparts, it concluded with the male character joining the upper class.
2. Narrative
The film follows the classic Todorovian three-act structure which includes the introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution.
The film begins with the pampered heiress Ellie Andrews diving into the sea as she escapes from her father who objects to the man she plans to marry. As she plans to travel from Miami to New York to reunite with her fiancee, she encounters Peter Warne, a drunken reporter who is recently fired by his boss. Peter and Ellie start a rocky relationship as, being from different social classes, they are unfamiliar to each other's customs and behaviors. Moreover, Peter is shown to hold her with the utmost contempt for her upper-class background as he constantly addresses her “brat” throughout the film. Being thrust together on a road trip in the country and away from the city, they take on a journey of self-discovery as they face the hurdles of the countryside. Eventually, their differences are reconciled and are recontextualized as the root of attraction. However, with Ellie's engagement in the way Peter cannot fully express his love to Ellie, which results in a conflict that is resolved by Ellie's father. The film resolves with both characters eloping, being finally allowed through matrimony.
The scene to be analyzed is positioned in the rising action according to the film’s narrative structure. In the scene, Ellie and Peter are forced to stay together in a motor court cabin as their bus ride is interrupted by bad weather. The scene is important in the sense that it shows Ellie and Peter bonding and setting their differences aside. This is shown in how Ellie succumbs to her circumstances and begins to adopt the common people’s lifestyle: taking a shower outside, walking through a muddy path, and having less fancier breakfast. Peter is shown to guide Ellie through her transgression from her upper-class status, which involves the transgression from his masculinity and taking on a feminine role.
3. Film Elements: Themes, Narrative Structure, Mise-en-scène, Dialogue
While the film may be a light-hearted romantic comedy, it also serves as a commentary on the normative and dominant cultural codes and expectations, both social and sexual, in its days. The conflict between ideologies, principles, and gender was the source of comedy in the narrative, and this appears as well in this particular scene.
The scene is most notable for its portrayal of Ellie’s transgression from her upper-class status. When considering its relevance in the film’s entire plot (narrative), it functions to portray how Ellie starts to break away from her extravagant lifestyle and the norms of her social class and adopt a more modest one, which she finds liberating, whilst dropping off sardonic commentaries about the upper-class.
After the bus is forced to stop due to adverse weather, Ellie and Peter are forced to stay together in a cabin at a motor court. The mise-en-scène of this scene should be noted: the floral patterned frilly curtains decorates the interior of the cabin in a style most suitable for a newly-wed couple. This provides a comedic effect and builds up on the scene to be followed where Ellie and Peter pretend to be a bickering couple when they are under inspection by detectives that are sent to search for Ellie. Its small size provides a stark comparison to the yacht where Ellie was shown to stay in the beginning of the film. Thus, the setting goes against the expectations of Ellie's social class, and her clashing experience with her new environment results in a comedic effect.
Not only is Ellie forced to stay in a place that does not suit her social class, but she also faces hardships of the common life. For instance, Ellie, who is used to indoor plumbing, is forced to bathe in the communal outdoor shower. Her startled phrase, “outside?,” and her ignorance of the concept of waiting in line may further be interpreted as signifying her social class’s lack of common sense and humility. However, Ellie finds these acts liberating, as is shown from her dialogue with Peter during breakfast. She is further educated by Peter to adopting a lifestyle that does not conform to her social class. This can be seen from a scene where Peter teaches Ellie how to properly dunk a doughnut in coffee, an act that would be frowned upon in view of her class position.
Not only does Ellie act against the expectations of her social status, but also her gender as well. The whimsical consequences of the scene forces Ellie to transcend her feminine-self and assume the gendered place of the masculine. This is essentially expressed from her act of wearing Peter’s clothes and Peter himself assuming the role expected of her gender instead. Examples can be seen from how Ellie wakes up in Peter’s pajamas and is handed his coat when she goes out to bathe. This can be symbolically interpreted as Ellie’s transgression from her femininity to masculinity.
As such, Peter engages in a degree of role reversal with Ellie. Peter is essentially emasculated as he waits on her hand and foot - wakes her up, prepares her breakfast, presses her dress, and provides her with toiletries. These being actions customarily expected from women, it can be inferred that Peter’s unconventional behavior establishes his character as one who does not let dominant ideology determine his actions (Hark, 125).
Overall, the scene functions to generate comedy through characters acting against the social norms that are specific to their social status and gender. Along with this, the scene serves as a commentary of the upper class as Ellie’s flaws can be interpreted as, in wider terms, a reflection of her associated social class’s lack of common sense and humility. This type of criticism was prevalent in the genre of screwball comedy, owing heavily to its socio-economic context.
Works Cited Barson, Michael. "Frank Capra." Encyclopaedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Frank-Capra#ref311850.
Hark, Ina Rae, editor. Screen Decades. Rutgers UP, 2007.
"1934: It Happened One Night - Defining the Screwball Comedy." One Hundred Years of Cinema, uploaded by One Hundred Years of Cinema, 1 Dec. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DCSC_saBjw. Accessed 3 Apr. 2019.