A runaway heiress and an out-of-work reporter share a bus and then a road trip to New York. He wants her story, she wants to reach her husband, and neither expects to fall in love. Watch how a blanket on a rope and a few jokes carry the whole romance.
It Happened One Night is a 1934 comedy and romance film directed by Frank Capra. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Inside Llewyn Davis uses several of the same techniques.
Pairing characters from opposite social worlds who find each other strange. Their friction produces the comedy, and what they learn from each other produces the emotion.
How this film uses it
Ellie is a rich heiress and Peter is a broke reporter, and each finds the other strange. Her father's reward makes his interest in her suspect. The spark between them grows from that clash of worlds.
Where to see it
Bus meeting: After a thief steals her money, Peter helps Ellie, knowing her father has offered a reward for her return.
Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.
How this film uses it
The trip is a string of small problems, with a missed bus, a washed-out bridge, detectives and a car thief. Each one pushes them closer. You watch the road add up to a romance.
Where to see it
Hitchhiking: Peter's thumb gets nowhere, but Ellie flashes her leg and gets the first ride. The driver steals their luggage, so Peter chases him down and takes the car.
Returning to the same physical object again and again until it means more than what it is. It moves the plot and also stands for the film's main ideas.
How this film uses it
A blanket hung on a rope between the beds is called the walls of Jericho. It keeps them apart and gives the film a running joke. When it finally falls, the film's romance is complete.
Where to see it
Motel blanket: Peter strings a blanket between the beds and calls it the walls of Jericho. At the end, at the couple's motel, the blanket falls and the lights go out.
Showing a character who holds feelings down until they leak out or burst. The performance lives in what is withheld, and the release lands harder for the wait.
How this film uses it
Peter loves Ellie but will not say so. He feels unworthy while unemployed, so he turns her down and leaves. The scene works because of what he holds back.
Where to see it
New Jersey motel: Ellie confesses her love. Peter refuses, and early the next morning he drives to New York to sell his story.
Letting characters perform the songs on screen, so the music comes from their own hands and voices. You hear the song and the performer's nerves at the same time.
How this film uses it
The bus passengers sing a song together, with Peter and Ellie among them. Capra decided to add this late and improvised the scene, and he cast himself as the singer of the third stanza. The sing-along turns strangers into a community for a moment.
Where to see it
Bus sing-along: The passengers sing The Man on the Flying Trapeze together on the bus.
Questions
It Happened One Night: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does It Happened One Night use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in It Happened One Night (1934): Odd Couple Class Structure, Picaresque Structure, Symbolic Object, Repressed Emotion and Diegetic Musical Performance.
Who directed It Happened One Night?
Frank Capra directed It Happened One Night, released in 1934. CineCode also covers It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
What films are similar to It Happened One Night?
Films that share techniques with It Happened One Night include Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), The Apartment (1960), Annie (1982), The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
