It Happened One Night: Frank Capra’s good-natured, sweetly naïve (for today’s standards) road-movie-cum-romantic-comedy is, quite simply, delightful. The mismatched road-buddies form a mismatched and easy to like couple; they are both nice, interesting characters. The trip also allows for a mild, but realistic look at the US at that time. The whole cast is fine, to say the least: Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale and Ward Bond are entertaining in their (very short) roles; Walter Connolly brings depth to a role that promised to be one-dimensional early on; Clark Gable mixes charm, playfulness and some small degree of vulnerability to great success; Claudette Colbert is strong, clueless, smart as a whip, and cute without being memorably pretty. They display great chemistry, playing beautifully off each other. Capra and cinematographer Joseph Walker’ shot selection is simple, leaving space for the cast to work without calling undue attention to anything else; the night scenes are, however, very beautifully lit, from the small interiors to the expansive exteriors.