BBBBB
(out of 5)
Classic road comedy has runaway bride Claudette Colbert team up with morally bankrupt reporter Clark Gable as they’re thrown from place to place, relying on each other for survival after the bus ride they’re both on ends up being detoured. The structure has been copied many times since, but nothing has managed to match the freshness of the antics that these two come up with in trying to survive each other. Who else but Colbert can use her long stockinged legs to hail a ride while hitch-hiking on the side of the road? Gable was never better than he is in the role that really showcases his comedic side. The film was the first of three to win all 5 major Academy Awards (the only other two being One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs).
Columbia Pictures Corporation
USA, 1934
Directed by Frank Capra
Screenplay by Robert Riskin, from a short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Cinematography by Joseph Walker
Produced by Frank Capra
Music by Howard Jackson
Production Design by Stephen Goosson
Costume Design by Robert Kalloch
Film Editing by Gene Havlick
Academy Awards
Best Actor (Clark Gable as “Peter Warne”)
Best Actress (Claude Colbert as “Ellie Andrews”)
Best Directing (Frank Capra)
Outstanding Production (Columbia)
Best Writing (Adaptation) (Robert Riskin
