One Paragraph Movie Review: It Happened One Night

Two hundred and sixty-fifth film: It Happened One Night, a film from 1934 that won five Oscars including Best Picture, back when the Oscars looked like a dinner party at a mate’s place. I recognise that this is an utterly great movie without being able to describe why. It has all the elements that annoy me in other 1930s pictures — rat-tat-tat dialogue, improbable plot, glaring stereotypes and touches of slapstick — but they’re crafted so elegantly in this one that it’s a proper joy to watch. An heiress runs from her father towards a new husband he disapproves of, to be aided and abetted by a newspaper man that only helps her for a scoop. And you’ll NEVER GUESS WHAT HAP-they fall in love, obviously. And every character is three-dimensional, and the plot jigs along jauntily, and the innuendo is both classy and clever, and I want a satin slip. I liked it a lot, see, and the 1930s style of banter hasn’t rubbed off on me at all, I’ll tell ya that for nothin’, mister. Four and a half emergency starvation carrots out of five.