Saturday, March 15, 2014

#138 It Happened One Night (1934)

I really liked this movie. This movie had a great story. I was entertained the entire way through, and I laughed a little bit. It was typical in that there was some overacting from the female and quick wit from the male, but it was still enjoyable. Maybe I just like 30s movies and hate 60s movies. I will have to rank all the movies again, and then I can compare how the decades fair.
Everyone was wearing suits. I still need to know when that stopped. I thought it was interesting that in this movie Clark Gable was singing "Who is afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" This of course was a constant theme of the movie I just watched, Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Weird coincidence. One of the reasons why I like watching old movies is because they are living in time periods I can only read about. For instance, this takes place during the Great Depression, and it is interesting to see how they live. They never mention it explicitly, but you can tell money was a huge deal. If a movie was made now that took place during the Great Depression, they would mention it and make a big deal out of it. I feel like this movie gave me a real window into 1934. I thought it was interesting that a room for the night in Jacksonville was $2, and later Clark Gable said that "all the best cottages have showers on the outside." Also, a real live person stopped the traffic for incoming trains.
This was also the second straight movie to mention Miami. Although I know Miami didn't reach significant population till after the 50s and it was devastated after the 20s hurricane, it is interesting to see Miami mentioned so much (Notorious, The Hustler, Some Like It Hot are the first to come to mind). This makes me wonder why a city that was still so small garnered so much national attention. Was it exclusively because of the weather and because it is a playground for the rich?
Whatever, I'd recommend watching it.

"You let it hang there too long, it'll get soft and fall off. It's all a matter of timing. Aw, I oughta write a book about it." -Peter Warne

Have you seen this movie? What movie should I watch next?
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