1934 Movie, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress of the Year Oscars?

Films/DVD Asylum

Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

All won by "It Happened One Night." A typical storyline, boy meets girl, boy and girl hate each other, etc. A nice twist is how they were both using each other. Back in '34 probably a fresh plot line. A real surprise was the autogyro in the movie. I had no idea they even existed back then.

It was fun to hear the song "He flies through the air with the greatest of ease. . ." Sadly I haven't heard it for decades. They seemed to make up new verses for it on the bus. There was mention of a "piggy-back ride," another vanishing phrase. Claudette Colbert did a nice job of bouncing from spoiled brat to dependent girl, to sophisticated woman and back a few times.

It was sort of interesting how different the world was back then, no cell phones and televisions were a rarity.

The history of the movie was quite interesting:

Clark Gable was on contract and refused to do a movie, so for punishment he was loaned out to lowly Paramount Pictures, a second-rate studio flirting with bankruptcy.

Claudette Colbert, who's career was nearly ruined by acting for a stinker from Paramount earlier refused to act in the movie and demanded double pay, $50,000 dollars, a fortune in 1934.

Colbert had planned a vacation and demanded the movie had to be shot in a mere four weeks. It was.

The movie opened in the major cities to mediocre reviews and poor ticket sales. Then having finished its first run, it then went to the smaller cities where word of mouth and repeated viewings made the movie a huge hit and a financial success. That movie pulled Columbia Pictures up into the big leagues.

Claudette had no faith in the film and was actually packing for yet another vacation when they found out she won the actress of the year award. They pulled her out of her house and drove her to the Oscar Awards show. She accepted her Oscar in her travelling cloak.

We'll have to agree to disagree about global warming until the next global cooling scare comes along

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Topic - 1934 Movie, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress of the Year Oscars? - Brian A 11:11:58 08/10/09 (4)

The hay and carrots scene remains my favorite. - eppis1 20:37:35 08/10/09 (1)

More History - Brian A 23:05:15 08/10/09 (0)

Possibly the greatest comedy of Hollywood's golden age - danj 14:32:20 08/10/09 (0)

RE: 1934 Movie, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress of the Year Oscars? - patrickU 13:05:24 08/10/09 (0)

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