History Film / ItHappenedOneNight

* DomesticAbuser: Peter pretends to abuse his "wife" to fool those who are looking for Ellie.

* HeroicDimples: Peter, as are most Clark Gable characters.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The credits and the screenplay both put two E's in Oscar Shapeley's last name, but it understandably often gets spelled the same as the word "shapely" (Shapeley making a pun on his own name and "shapely" doesn't help).

* SpinningPaper: We see several newspaper montages throughout the movie.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Annoying fellow bus passenger Oscar Shapely hits on Ellie, so Peter starts pretending to be her husband.

** Oscar Shapely recognizes Ellie's picture in the paper as that pretty girl he was hitting on on the bus. He offers to go 50/50 on the $10,000 reward with Peter, threatening to turn them in for the whole amount otherwise.
* BrandishmentBluff: Part of Peter's tactic to scare off Shapely; he pretends to have a gun in his pocket, but it's [[FingerGun just his finger]].

* IHaveAFamily: Peter gives Oscar Shapely a good scare with the kidnapping and "HeKnowsTooMuch" plot, upon which the latter replies that he has a wife and kids.

** Peter makes Oscar Shapely shut up about his blackmailing by spinning a yarn about being a gangster who's kidnapping Ellie, and the probable shootout ahead.

* NonAnswer: When Andrews flat-out asks Peter if he loves Ellie, he keeps give evasive, snarky replies ("A guy that'd fall in love with your daughter should have his head examined!"), and Andrews [[LampshadeHanging calls him out on it]].

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the first comedy to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and then ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company and established Frank Capra as a great director. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.

Random trivia: WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's love of carrots was intended as an obvious ShoutOut to Clark Gable's carrot chomping in this movie, but [[LostInImitation it quickly became]] the StockAnimalDiet of fictional rabbits everywhere. (In RealLife, carrots are unhealthy for rabbits in large amounts.)

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Peter ''is'' kind of a jerk to Ellie in some scenes. She falls for him ''because'' of him being a bit of a jerk now and then - she likes someone who stands up to her and isn't impressed by her (father's) money.

* AlmostKiss: Between Peter and Ellie in the hay.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove
--> '''Ellie''': I love you. Nothing else matters. We can run away. Everything will take care of itself. Please, Peter, I can't let you out of my life now. I couldn't live without you.

** Also, Oscar Shapely wants to go 50/50 on a $5,000 reward he sees in the newspaper.
* BrandishmentBluff: Part of Peter's tactic to scare off Shapely; he pretends to have a gun in his pocket, but it's [[FingerGun just his finger.]]

* BrickJoke: When Peter first hangs the sheet between them as the 'Walls of Jericho', he alludes to the real walls being brought down with a trumpet. At the very end on their wedding night, the landlord tells his wife that the newlyweds asked for a trumpet. Cue trumpet blowing and the bed sheet hitting the floor.

* ClarkKenting: Peter and Ellie fool the detectives by pretending to be a low-class married couple. Somehow it works.
* CrowdSong: Though the bus passengers' rendition of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" is believable.

* {{Fanservice}}: Clark Gable was seen without an undershirt in this film. There is [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/gable1.asp an urban legend]] that this hurt undershirt sales.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Calling the dividing towel the "Wall of Jericho" foreshadows that the barriers between the couple will eventually fall away. The end includes a CallBack to this very topic, where the couple request a trumpet and a towel is shown tossed into a corner.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: So blatant it hardly counts as sneaking. Peter and Ellie spend the movie hanging a towel (the Wall of Jericho) between the beds in their hotel/motel rooms for privacy. At the end, when they have been married, they retire to a hotel room, while the owner remarks to a friend how funny it is that the newlyweds requested a trumpet. Cut to a scene of a towel being thrown into the corner, with the sound of a trumpet being blown. ''Really'' suggestive for 1934. It helps that the movie was made right at the end of UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra.

-->'''Mr. Andrews''': Do you love my daughter?\\
'''Peter''': Any guy in love with your daughter should be examined.\\
'''Mr. Andrews''': Do you love her?\\
'''Peter''': A normal man couldn't live with her without going nutty.\\
'''Mr. Andrews''': I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?\\
'''Peter''': Yes! But don't hold that against me, I'm a little screwy myself!

** Also, Peter's MeanBoss seems to have a soft side to him. It's implied that when he reads Peter's story about Ellie, he puts two and two together and realises that Peter was genuinely in love with the girl.
* JustForTheHeliOfIt: The groom arrives at the society wedding in an autogyro (like a helicopter, but with an unpowered rotor), apparently for the PR value. The bride and her father are not favorably impressed:
--> '''Mr. Andrews:''' Everything's set. Creating quite a furore, too. (''pause'') Great stunt King is going to pull.\\

'''Ellie:''' (''flatly'') Yes, I heard.\\

--> "I'd change places with a plumber's daughter any day."

* PhoneyCall: Type C. Peter makes a drunk call to his editor who decides to fire him while on the phone and then hangs up in disgust. Peter, surrounded by other drunkards, pretends the conversation is going on and that his editor is begging him to stay on the job which then earns him the applause of his friends.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Peter is giving one to Ellie at the train station accusing her of being a SpoiledBrat who is used to buy her way out of all problems.
* RefugeInAudacity: Peter makes Oscar Shapely shut up about his blackmailing by spinning a yarn about kidnapping Ellie and the probable shootout ahead.
** Also, the way Peter and Ellie throw off the detectives by playing a quarreling couple.

* RoadTripRomance: The {{Trope Maker|s}}.

* RunawayBride: One of the, if not ''the'' earliest example on film. Ellie races away from the altar and into the arms of Peter at the last moment.
* SeinfeldianConversation: Ellie and Peter spend quite a bit of time discussing hitchhiking techniques and what does or does not constitute a piggy-back ride.
** Gable has one of his own, where he complains that women "don't know how to dunk" (donuts into coffee). Nike used that scene for a shoe ad in the 1980s.

* SneakyDeparture: Done by Peter for selfish reasons which puts Ellie in trouble the next morning when the landlords ask for their money.

* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: One of the most famous scenes in the film is when our two leads much share a bedroom for the night. Peter hangs a towel across the room to give Ellie privacy, calling it the "Wall of Jericho." Of course, the Wall of Jericho is most famous for ''falling down,'' foreshadowing their eventual romance.
* TheThirties: ''Two dollars'' to rent a motel room for the night.
** An early scene has the bus stopping at a place that sells food and beverages....for ''10 cents''. There's also the fact that the ten dollars Peter had on him would have provided them with enough food to last ''the whole trip''. Something practically unthinkable today.

* ThisIsMySide: That bedsheet been homaged/used dozens of times by everything from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' to ''Film/AVeryBradySequel''.

* IdiotBall: Yes, Peter. Suggest they get out of the car and walk away from it while their lift is inside getting a bite to eat. Sure enough said lift assumes they've gone and drives off.

** Considering that it was in the middle of UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression, chances are that ''any'' more upbeat news would've been more than welcome.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Peter ''is'' kind of a jerk to Ellie in some scenes. She still falls for him anyway.
** She falls for him ''because'' of him being a bit of a jerk now and then - she likes someone who stands up to her and isn't impressed by her (father's) money.

* {{Blackmail}}: Peter wants the scoop on Ellie's flight to her husband; he threatens to call her father unless she gives it to him.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: So blatant it hardly counts as sneaking. Peter and Ellie spend the movie hanging a towel (the Wall of Jericho) between the beds in their hotel/motel rooms for privacy. At the end, when they have been married, they retire to a hotel room, while the owner remarks to a friend how funny it is that the newlyweds requested a trumpet. Cut to a scene of a towel being thrown into the corner, with the sound of a trumpet being blown. ''Really'' suggestive for 1934.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Peter, who is rude and crass but really does care about Ellie.
** Also, Peter's MeanBoss seems to have a soft side to him.

* NeverTrustATitle: The story takes place over the course of at least three days.
** The title might well refer to that they fell in love one night along that trip.

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the first comedy to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and then ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director, and might be one of the earliest examples of a CultClassic. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the first comedy to win the AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and then ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director, and might be one of the earliest examples of a CultClassic. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.

* NonIndicativeName: The story takes place over the course of at least three days.

* ShowSomeLeg: The TropeMaker, and so old that many people don't even realize this is where it comes from.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: This movie either created or popularized a ''lot'' of romantic comedy tropes, so much so that most modern viewers would find it boring and predictable.

* RunawayBride: One of the, if not ''the'' earliest example on film. Ellie races away from the altar and into the arms of Peter at the last moment

'''Peter''': Yes!

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the comedy to win the AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and then ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director, and might be one of the earliest examples of a CultClassic. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.

* ThisIsMySide: That bedsheet been homaged/used dozens of times by everything from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' to ''[[BradyBunchSpinOffs A Very Brady Sequel]]''.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Annoying fellow bus passenger Oscar Shapeley hits on Ellie, so Peter starts pretending to be her husband.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: A very obnoxious guy hits on Ellie on the bus so Peter starts pretending to be her husband.

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the comedy to win the AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and ''Literature/SilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director, and might be one of the earliest examples of a CultClassic. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.

--> '''Mr. Andrews:''' Everything's set. Creating quite a furore, too. (Pause) Great stunt King is going to pull.\\

'''Ellie:''' (Flatly) Yes, I heard.\\

::Ellie and her father aren't the only ones to find it a bit silly:
--> '''Peter:''' I'd like to get a load of that three ring circus you're pulling. I wanna see what love looks like when it's triumphant. I haven't had a good laugh in a week.

This RomanticComedy from 1934 was directed by Creator/FrankCapra. It was a low-budget movie that only became a huge success after it attracted a very strong word-of-mouth, and stayed in theaters for many years. It was the first pure comedy to win the AcademyAward for Best Picture, and the first film to sweep all five major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the same year -- a feat repeated only twice since, with ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' and ''Literature/SilenceOfTheLambs''. It established Creator/ColumbiaPictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director, and might be one of the earliest examples of a CultClassic. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on ''Series/{{Concentration}}''.