A renegade reporter and a crazy young heiress meet on a bus heading for New York, and end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops.
Its opposites-attract melding of screwball comedy and the road trip elements has become one of about a half-dozen standard love story formulas. Most years, there's at least one theatrical release that owes a debt to this film.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
22 Feb 1934
fresh:
It Happened One Night is a good piece of fiction, which, with all its feverish stunts, is blessed with bright dialogue and a good quota of relatively restrained scenes.
– Mordaunt Hall,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
Capra's sense of humour is a little like that of Preston Sturges, though less caustic; and the film shows its stars at their best, Colbert as one of Hollywood's fresher comediennes, Gable as dumb-but-loveable hunk.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
This is Capra at his best, very funny and very light, with a minimum of populist posturing.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
12 Dec 2006
fresh:
One of those stories that without a particularly strong plot manages to come through in a big way, due to the acting, dialog, situations and direction.