This old treasure was shown on TCM as part of their 31 Days of Oscar but unlike the other movies I saved on the ol’ DVR, this one actually won an award: Best Actor 1934 to Clark Cable. It’s also a personal favorite of mine because Bugs Bunny is allegedly derived from Clark’s performance during the hitchhiking incident. If you ever see the movie, pay attention to him eating and cleaning the raw carrots he steals. Definitely Frank Capra’s best, not the worn-out Christmas movie everyone still shows to death.
The story begins in Miami. Ellie (Colbert) is a spoiled heiress on the run from her millionaire father. Peter (Gable) is a reporter, recently fired from his NYC paper. They meet on the bus for NYC after arguing over the last available seat. Peter eventually recognizes who Ellie is and bullies her into a deal—it does take place in the Thirties. He will make sure she gets to NYC and reunited with her husband, the source of the family dispute. In return, Peter will have the scoop every paper on the East Coast will want. The trip north takes some interesting twists, turns and obviously Ellie and Peter fall in love while avoiding thieves (Alan Hale, Sr., the Skipper’s dad!), a blabbermouth that speaks entirely in Thirties slang, unfriendly hotel owners who don’t rent to unmarried couples and private detectives hired by Ellie’s father.
At first, the movie and its dialog feel very dated (words and expressions only used by my grandparents). Not really, it’s a timeless story and personally I think it’s the road-buddy-romantic comedy that all others have followed. Look at Planes, Trains & Automobiles, My Fellow Americans or The Sure Thing to see the elements borrowed from this. Gable and Colbert’s have real chemistry too, something so many other films lack. However I don’t think people spoke in such complete sentences in the past but they were pretty snappy dressers.
The movie is also a cool cultural observation on what America was like then. The media’s current obsession over celebrities instead of hard news is still an element which hasn’t changed in 73 years. Despite the Depression being in full swing, it didn’t seem to be on people’s minds constantly in any conversations. Imagine how hard it would be for Ellie to travel unnoticed: cell phones can give away locations, the trail of credit card purchases and alerts on TV shows. Peter would only have it easier through the shift in social mores, unmarried couples in hotels don’t faze anybody now.