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It Happened One Night (1934)

Because it was a low budget film, no one expected much from It Happened One Night. Its star, Claudette Colbert, even called it the worst film she had ever done after she had completed it. No one could imagine the masterpiece that erupted from such doubts. The film that stars French vixen Claudette Colbert and the ravishingly handsome Clark Gable, contains a chemistry that sets the screen on fire.

Colbert plays the rich girl, Ellie Andrews, daughter of a Wall Street powerhouse. Against her father's wishes, she elopes with playboy, King Westley. He drags her back home and she vows to escape and see her love again. Ellie defiantly jumps off her father's boat and swims to shore and to her new life. She jumps aboard a bus headed back to New York when she comes across a smart-aleck reporter by the name of Peter Warne (Gable). He is instantly intrigued by the little tyrant and starts up a friendship with her. Peter has just been fired from his job at the paper and sees in her the story that will make the year's largest headlines: "Rich girl defies father and returns to her love." By this time, a massive man-hunt for Ellie has ensued, and Peter is the only one who knows where she is. He quickly blackmails her: stay with me and give me my story, or I send you back to your father. They spend the next several days together, as she inches closer and closer to her love. But, is it him she really wants, or something else?

Winner of the five major Academy Awards in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, It Happened One Night defies all expectations and proves to be a timeless classic that you'll instantly fall in love with.

Written by: V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi

Reviewers Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 5.80
Reader's Votes: 5

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