brat

It Happened One Night (1934, Frank Capra) is a broad screwball comedy, completely lacking in subtlety, full of moralizing speeches, and a message, about a couple of narcissists who are supposedly redeemed in the end through their love for each other (but really marriage). Either that or it’s the ultimate delayed gratification sex comedy dressed up like a road movie.

     There’s also this kinky infantilization aspect to it. Ever notice the first time PETER WARREN admits to ELLIE ANDREWS that he has feelings for her is right after he’s told her the island story and deflected her, when she’s sobbing tears and he finds her asleep sucking her thumb? Or how his pet name for her is brat?

Screen chemistry, acting compatibility, call it what you will, but Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are what keep me coming back to this movie time and time again. I don’t know how screwball comedies work or why, but I do know for certain that the man and woman non-stop trading insults is both hilarious and somehow signals I want them to be together. It’s nonsense. Illogical. It’s called screwball for a reason. 
     And they’re young. The way Peter’s editor mirrors Ellen’s dad in the sense of both being inciting incident catalyst that causes each to run away is kinda punk. The longer they cut each other down, the more they prove equally matched, the more something inside us desires for them to be together.
     By the time they get to the hitchhiking scene, something about that set piece always makes me feel like I no longer care where they’re going or what happens next. I’m right where I wanna be. Day exterior however many hours it takes for them to catch a ride, I am delighted to enjoy the moment—and that’s the secret of life. In that one scene that’s what It Happened One Night does that makes it so worthwhile. And when they hop in the car it’s that same moment the driver knows they belong together, mistaking them for being married; and we know they outta be. Now we’re past the point of no return. Nothing can keep them apart. Even when the driver turns out to be a road thief. Say, that’s where Showgirls (1995, Paul Verhoeven) must’ve got it. Perils of hitchhiking. 
     The comment made by the road thief also sets up way later the last scene in the movie’s twist. For he claims they must be married because of their incessant quarreling, however the wife at the auto court says “If you ask me I don’t believe they’re married,” and when we ask what could have caused this drastic turn in their mood, it could be true love, or it could be the walls of Jericho tumbling and them finally after waiting for it throughout the entire movie are about to get what they’ve really been waiting for.