The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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It Happened One Night
Comedy · Romance · 1934
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.
Movie details
It Happened One Night
“An unforgettable entertainment...the outstanding performance of two outstanding careers!”
1934 Comedy · Romance 1h 45m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.1 / 10
119.2K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
98 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
87 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over It Happened One Night?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Frank Capra
Written by
Robert Riskin
Clark Gable
Peter Warne
Claudette Colbert
Ellie Andrews
Walter Connolly
Alexander Andrews
Roscoe Karns
Oscar Shapeley
Jameson Thomas
King Westley
Alan Hale
Danker
Arthur Hoyt
Zeke
Court is in session
Put It Happened One Night on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.