1934: It Happened One Night - Defining The Screwball Comedy

[@poetcomic1]

This film was revolutionary for Hollywood in one particular way. People went to see it more than one time, even two or three times in the same week. Multiple viewers helped create a huge box office.

[@blortmeister]

Late to the party, I know, but I think you might be overlooking just how important the female lead is; screwball comedies (the best ones, at least) rely on a very strong female lead. Colbert may be from a wealthy background, but she's also strong-willed and self-determined. You can, I think, draw a line between her and, say, Sigourney Weaver's character in Alien. Colbert, Rosalind Russell, Kate Hepburn, these are all "modern" women who, when they finally meet a man who is strong enough to not only stand up to them, but accept them for who they are, that is when they enter into a fulfilling relationship. The romance is on their terms, not the male lead's terms. They are generally presented as wealthy not only to comment on class differences, but also to make them financially independent--meaning that they can express their independence from the "need" for a man. You did touch on this theme. but I don't think you gave it the attention that it deserves. Still, excellent video, and a stellar series. You make me think about film again, rather than just watching a story unfold. And that's something I haven't done in a while.

[@petargyoshev5694]

As a cinema student that is currently doing an analysis on Bringing up baby, I really appreciate your comment. It wrapped up my thoughts in couple of sentences, saving me a lot of energy. Cheers

[@blortmeister]

@@petargyoshev5694 you lucky SOB--being forced to watch one of the great comedies of all time. Not only is Kate fantastic in it, but watch Cary Grant. He prances around in that stupid furbelow and you still don't get the sense that his manhood is threatened. He may feel silly, but that's entirely different. And by the end, he recognizes that his life with Kate is going to be insane, but it's still better than being alone--and the girl is mad for him. The only better film you could watch is Some Like It Hot. Have fun in class!

[@marvel096]

such a spot on comment!

[@cowboysfan782008]

I just rented the movie for $4 to spark my interest in old movies again after watching the movie "Chaplain" with Downey Jr last night. In College in the late 80s I had to choose between taking English Lit and Film 1900-1950 and I chose film, and this was one of the films we saw, and I haven't seen it since. I'm 52 and up to that point in College I always viewed old movies as silly until I actually watched one. It's amazing how much talent there was in much of the acting, and how interesting the plots are. The only reason I thought they were silly in school was because I'd only seen snippets of them while channel surfing, and with old movies if you only watch 5 minutes they won't seem that interesting. I also took History Of Jazz which was also amazing, and it started with the great "Led Belly" then on to Scott Joplin and the ragtime music era.

[@avocate2017]

Yes, the strong female lead was essential to the old screwball comedies. So many people who watch movies like It Happened One Night today inevitably comment on how sexist, chauvinistic, or brutish Clark Gable's character is, but don't seem to fully appreciate how feisty, spunky, and independent Claudette Colbert's character is. It's like that in the screwball comedies with Jean Arthur, Barbara Stanwyck, and others as well. If you see sexist men or attitudes, you will also see strong women. In fact, when I watch many of those screwball comedies, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how strong and modern the female leads are.

[@howardkoor2796]

Dialogue from the thumbing scene. "Aren't you going to give me a little credit?" "What for?" "I proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb." "Why didn't you take off all your clothes? You could have stopped forty cars." "Well, I'll remember that when we need forty cars."

[@daniexists6]

I am about to say something honestly shocking, but this one film from 1934 had an impact on film and television for years to come, even now, just for one bit in particular. There is a fairly famous bit in the film wherein Gable, stuck in the middle of nowhere with the leading lady, leans up against a white picket fence and just starts nonchalantly chewing on a raw carrot while still continuing the scene and dialogue. This film was a favorite among the staff of Warner Bros. animation at the time, and in 1940, when Tex Avery was working on a short for the studio involving a smartass rabbit messing with a hunter, they ended up stealing that bit, along with a saying from Texas that Tex had heard a lot growing up, leading to who we know now as Bugs Bunny.

[@donna25871]

This and Bringing Up Baby are the masterpieces of the genre. Modern Hollywood has forgotten how to make these.

[@poetcomic1]

Don't forget 'Midnight'.

[@chrisdaily2077]

I'm more of a fan of Arsenic and Old Lace.

[@Ubernerd3000]

I think the last, true screwball comedy was THE MAIN EVENT, in ‘79…the last of the ‘trilogy’ starring Barbara Streisand, which included WHAT’S UP DOC, and FOR PETE’S SAKE…

[@SinAndreww]

Oh thank god, I'm doing an essay on this thats due tomorrow

[@sunnyisland8869]

lol same here

[@chooperchris]

Mee

[@mick6876]

LOL #metoo

[@jamesm2078]

I watched this in my Film 1895 to 1945 class today and am excited to watch this film.

[@deckofcards87]

The rom-com of all rom coms. Sits comfortably in my top 10 favourite films.

[@howardkoor2796]

The thumbing scene is so dialogue rich, as is the entire film.

[@vishansilva8546]

I just got done watching it happened one night wow what a beautiful film I never thought in my live I would love a screw ball romance movie and boy I was wrong this movie was funny but it was just a beautiful love story of how two people who don’t get along somehow find a love for one another it was a reflection of its time and boy it was done truly well done I love this movie Clark gable and claudette Colbert chemistry was pure gold on screen.

[@adityanathan7059]

Your work is what I’ve always been looking for. Please upload more often so you can actually caught more audience. The premise of your channel deserves more appreciation and are definitely should be the same level of “Now You See It” or “Every Frame A Painting”.

[@moncorp1]

Idea for Bugs Bunny came from It Happened One Night. The hitch hiking scene.

[@samuelsosa3500]

Thank you for this video, this is one of my favorite movies of all time and I can now show people just how wonderful it is

[@francescomanzo3939]

Wonderful video. I really like the fact that you're bringing attention to genre cinema: it often gets dismissed, but it's actually one of the most important aspects in the history of cinema. What do you think?

[@GabyGibson]

Thank you very much for this channel. This is greatly helping with my ENG 116 Perspectives on Film. One of my favorite screwball comedies is Bringing Up Baby!

[@stephenkeen5737]

Fantastic commentary again. Thanks so much!

[@myrnahuichapan7624]

Romancing the Stone?

[@RaulAPinto]

You should talk about "The Major and the Minor", my favourite screwball comedy. It's awesome!

[@yoseftovshteyn]

wow just found this Chanel and I'm impressed, i hope to watch it grow really big

[@spaceman3952]

Hi Charlie, I just found your channel about 3 weeks ago and I love it! Although screwballs were few and far between by the 60s and 70s, I think the last great screwball comedy was Peter Bogdanavich’s “What’s Up Doc” starring Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand. An underrated movie, in my opinion. O’Neal and Streisand made a great pair, and Streisand was never funnier or sexier on screen again. As a lifelong amateur film buff who studied it in college, your channel is a blast! Keep up the great work Charlie.

[@AnthonySmith-ty7ij]

Great video. For later videos, use the films of Preston Sturges like Sullivan's Travels and the Palm Beach Story on how screwball comedies influenced in the 1940s.

[@arnepianocanada]

Better researched and presented than the Rebecca post. Bravo! You have fine speech and a lively but just-the-facts style of delivery, not hyperbolic or cluttered with effects.

[@thiccboss4780]

omg i knew you would upload soon! and Frank Capra of all things!! i was about to go on a film spree but was a bit lacking on the mood , and this is sure to bring me up to movie speed, thank you man!!

[@김천분-z1b]

34년도 이런 영화를 만든 감독 남녀 주인공 탁월한 선택을한 감독 천재감독

[@eastsea7831]

님 클라크 게이블 팬이신가봐요..ㅋ 저도 엊그제 GWTW 극장서 보고와서 게이블 자료 다 뒤지고 있는데 댓글 자주 뵙네요^^ 일단 저는 왕팬입니다~

[@DanielaVilu]

As good as this film is, I think Twentieth Century, which came out that same year, is a zanier and more adorable screwball. Directed by Howard Hawks and written by Ben Hecht, it stars Carole Lombard, the Queen of Screwball...

[@thiccboss4780]

Happy New Years Eve Charlie here's to more decades into cinema history!

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

Happy New years! Thanks for all your support!

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

Happy New years! Thanks for all your support!

[@JannettBauder-w1x]

it call big admit

[@RBerube76]

Thank you for the book recommendation at the end.

[@galaxykillah3694]

Hey! Love your videos! Keep them up! And since you made a horror genre history are you also gonna make history of musicals or history of film noir or other stuff like that ? Because that would be great! Again your awesome love the videos!

[@85410101016]

Very informing Thanks!

[@theoptimist4771]

Can You Make a Video on Laurel and Hardy's Way Out West for 1937 ?

[@bella37michaelson72]

Wonderful videos,thank you

[@BeeOstrowsky]

By this definition, Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" would be a screwball comedy. Does it make sense to say it was?

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

Much Ado About Nothing shares many similarities with the screwball comedy, but it is not a great reflection of the fears and attitudes felt by the working class of america in the late 1930's.

[@TheMogul23]

I think it's fair to say that Shakespeare's comedic romantic pairings were an influence on the screwball genre, in much the same way as screwball films influence modern RomComs.

[@scotthead690]

This was released before the hard code went into effect

[@vvzy1]

Your argument in the final few minutes is perplexing, since It Happened One Night was made and released as a pre-Code film in the earlier part of 1934. It couldn't have nearly as much booze (or Claudette's leg flash that you show a clip of) if it was made as a Code film

[@williamsnyder5616]

I know the film was released early in 1934, perhaps before the code was enforced.

[@cormacphillips2585]

Great videos

[@marip9537]

great video

[@arnepianocanada]

Fun fact: rabbits like carrots no more than other veg. Bugs Bunny's creative team took his carrot-chewing habit from Gable in this film - and spread a global misconception!

[@howardkoor2796]

Thank you

[@christophercass7262]

Where did you find a poster of The Philadelphia Story with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in it? (13:06mark) How is Jimmy Stewart going to win his Oscar?

[@marvel096]

yeah that was weird! but i do remember reading that katharine hepburn wanted them as her male leads

[@howardkoor2796]

Brilliant story.

[@nicolaerevin5019]

What is the background song in the video? Please upvote so the question can be seen, the track sounds really smooth!

[@anaidfc8]

Gained a new subscriber :)

[@YangGor]

trope trope trope trope and it's Kol-Bair not Kol-Bert I know you can't mention them all, but The Awful Truth? That said , you've done some good work in your series. These comments look pretty old. . .

[@caraqueno]

Charlie, you, probably, are no longer viewing comments but, as much as I enjoyed your video, there are 4 fundamentally incorrect things about it that must be brought to your attention: 1. Your video actually delineates the development of the modern romantic comedy, as it plays out in "rom-coms" of today, in film and on television, not screwball comedy; 2. screwball comedy is that branch of the romantic comedy that was more madcap, pitting a free soul against someone who is either closed off to his/her emotions or is so wedded to convention that the conventional one of the romantic pair starts to act out and experience bodily and emotionally-jarring behavior, not, necessarily, from the difference in social classes; 3. ANY discussion of screwball comedy must begin with Carole Lombard, which you don't. "It Happened One Night" spawned romantic comedy and it's zingers, double-entendres, and wit. That stemmed from the, largely, spohisticated, New York-literary, Noel Coward-influenced writers who wrote the screenplays for romantic comedies. It was Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfrey" (1936), with it's satirical script co-wriiten by both Eric Hatch (author of the short book of the same name) and Morrie Ryskind, both noted humorists and, with Ryskind, on of the great social/political satirists of the era, that ushered in the screwball element in romantic comedy. No discussion about screwball comedy can exist without mentioning Carole Lombard (or, writer-director Preston Sturges) and her singular performances in that realm of romantic comedy. It's interesting that, in the more traditional romantic comedies that she made, she made less of an impression than she did in her screwball roles; 4. While people of mismatched classes did make up a number of screwball comedy protagonists, most of the great screwball comedies and romantic comedies were among members of the same social classes. Romantic comedies, particularly, those of Preston Sturges, did go deeper into the follies and foibles of wealth, his and other comedies were treatises on the tension between conformity and living one's dreams and passions, rebelling against social mores that were much stricter in the romantic comedy era but no less weigh on most people today. Including "The Philadelphia Story" in your video demonstrates how it is a fine example of a romantic comedy, not a screwball comedy. It's based on a play by Philip Barry, perhaps, the most Noel Cowardesque of American playwrights. Although much is made of Tracy Lord's fiance, George Kitteredge, as a self-made millionaire, he is wealthy, boorish, being completely conventional, therefore, unredeemable as a human being. The play and film border on the struggle of Tracy Lord to follow convention (marrying Kitteredge) or "following her bliss" by remarrying her ex-husband, C. K. Dexter Haven. We, the audience, get to see two couples banter and watch their discovery and choice of following their bliss for the price of one film: Tracy Lord and C. K. Dexter Haven as well as Mike Macauley and Elizabeth Imbrie. Their romances are not so much about money not buying you happiness, class struggles (although they are there) but if we choose to live our lives authentically. I enjoyed your video and look forward to seeing others.

[@stevequizodlibumpbumpbump3575]

That hitch hikin film with John Cusack -- was it "The Sure Thing"? -- isn't that a screwball comedy. And the one with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell? And several others with Goldie Hawn? So I don't see how one could say that the genre isn't still goin strongly.

[@Madbandit77]

Which Hawn/Russell film? Swing Shift or Overboard?

[@cgmoog]

A Life Less Ordinary 1997 is a screwball comedy. It has all the elements.

[@theoptimist4771]

Can you Review Way Out West as the film for 1937 ? It Stars two of the greatest comedians of history - Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Pleeeeassse????????😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

I noticed that you put Her (2003) like that, that is wrong, it came out in 2014.

[@alg11297]

I always said a screwball comedy is a rom com made before 1960. It Happened One Night worked well because of the stars and the fast pace of the film. It was later made as Roman Holiday and to my mind it didn't work.

[@Georgina-lv9bt]

Roman Holiday and IHON are very different though. Plot wise theyre similar but the characters and the dynamuc between the leads is actually pretty different.

[@alg11297]

@@Georgina-lv9bt you are so right. Peck was replaced by a stick of wood and Audrey played the same waif role for much of her career

[@Georgina-lv9bt]

@@alg11297 lol I actually liked RH but I think this one wins and by a pretty big margin.

[@행호할캥홍]

It happened one night = overboard?

[@westervonburgermeister9877]

Her was made in 2013

[@thiccboss4780]

iv'e been looking for this film kzbin.info/www/bejne/omXTq2SXq9xnhcU the footage of the trucks driving down the road if anyone finds it tell me, not sure if Lumiere or Edison so far

[@Tararu3500]

........ Preston Sturges

[@robrules]

Bro I love this video but Her was actually made in 2013, not 2003. It appears at 12:30 as made in 2003.

[@ShorkGamer]

something new coming soon?

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

Hopefully! My day job gets crazy this time of the year so I might be a little later than normal.

[@Melvinshermen]

Fun fact both hitler and stalin love this film

[@robertzverina7181]

These videos are very well done but too often the spell is broken by mispronunciation of names. In the age of Stephen Colbert, how does one pronounce Claudette’s last name cole-burt? If the videos were of lesser quality overall, it wouldn’t be worth mentioning, but it’s a somewhat frequent and easily avoidable flaw to otherwise stellar content.

[@wildsmiley]

Claudette is French in background (in fact, she was born in France) so yes, her surname (admittedly not her original surname) would be pronounced “cole-bare”.

[@ashleyl.2975]

Actually Claudette herself had her surname pronounced Col-bert rather than Col-baire because early on in her career she was typecast as the French girl and she didn't want that, so she made it so the pronunciation was Col-bert.

[@robderiche]

Thanks! I’ve only ever heard it pronounced “Col-baire”, but it’s possible that was a perpetuation of an error at odds with her preference. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@caraqueno]

@@ashleyl.2975 Good try but, however she might have wanted her surname to be pronounced "Col-BERT", there are ample examples (even here on KZbin) where she, herself, pronounced her surname, "Col-BAIRE", so "Col-BAIRE" is the accepted and standard pronunciation of her surname.

[@classiclife7204]

It's not "screwball" though, but ok