It Happened One Night

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

In the mid 1930's, it was a time when the silent film industry was slowly diminishing quickly and the battle of the sexes rose; as known as "screwball comedy". In the film It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra, the led actress, Claudette Colbert, establishes what was currently happening in the film industry. When Hollywood first built itself every movie created was all silent and every actor had to communicate physically not verbally. By 1929, silent film was no more and everyone who worked in that field had to either learn differently or get into a new line of work. 

In 1922, the MPPDA, Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America,  was created by Will Hayes. This program was a censorship of the films that would later be created. As a viewer of It Happened One Night you can tell it filmed after the MPPDA was created because of a lot of the scenes in the movie show the censorship . For example, when Ellen and Peter were going to sleep in the motel Peter hung a blanket over a string that was in-between the two twin beds. He called this the "Wall of Jericho." Like we discussed in class, the censorship in this movie was not that corny as it could of been. 

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content. 

http://www.filmsite.org/itha.html

The studio that was a pioneer for "screwball comedies" was Columbia Pictures which was a really  "poverty row" studio back in the day making a lot of "B" movies. When reading the article, as a reader, you find out about Clark Gable and how he was actually a bad boy in the film industry. He wanted to bring the mold of his "gigolo" image that he would usually play in Hollywood. After reading the script, he realized that It Happened One Night would be perfect for him. When trying to get the leading lady for the role of Ellen, Claudia Colbert was the right choice. She had some time  off from her regular studio, Paramount, where she was able to make a quick $50,000 only in four weeks time. In the article, it discussed how Colbert actually admitted that she thought she had just made the worst film ever. When in reality it ended up becoming one of the most romantic films of all time. 

Just like we discussed in class, when Clark Gable created the scene were he undresses for bed he ended up making a very bold fashion trend. When men around the world saw that Gable did not wear a undershirt under his dress shirt they all ended up doing the same exact thing. 

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.

In the article, it mentioned a lot about the people who played the characters in the movie. It discussed how the movie that came from the "poverty row" studio who really only created "B" movies made a pretty successful movie that did not even seem like it was a "B" movie anyways. The two main actors in the movie, Gable and Colbert played their roles terrifically. However, behind the scenes they seemed like different people. Even though Colbert disrobed for a movie prior she gave Capra a very hard time when he wanted her to strip down for the bedroom scene in this movie. Also, when she needed to show a little leg in the hitchhiking scene she refused to and made the director hire a stunt double. This was going to work until Colbert did not like his stunt doubles legs and decided hers were better looking. 

4) Write a critical analysis of the film.

I can defiantly see how this film made history. Not only was it one of the first silent films to make history it took us, as viewers into a new world of screwball comedies. Males vs. Females! The concept of the movie and all the different themes that were being shown in the film (males vs females, love, right choices, loyalty, moral ideals, etc.) it did a excellent job at keeping them flowing throughout the film. The use of lighting played a big part in this movie. When Ellen is hovering of Peter's bed while she is pleading him to take her away and love her; as a viewer, you can see the changing of lighting that the director put on the character. Capra chose to put a soft glow on her face making her look loving and angelic. With women's costumes being more conservative in this time period because of the MPPDA and the battle of the sexes rising in Hollywood it made movies more interesting to watch and want to take sides. It made women feel and become more of a competition for men especially in the film industry. 

Checklist for Plagiarism  

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

(x) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for 

other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

(x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those

 words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

(x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources

 cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

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

(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. 

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

(x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully

 transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Colleen McGovern

10/16/13