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This Frank Capra, Robert Riskin comedy really struck a chord with the viewing public in the heart of the Depression, blending a nominal opposites attract road comedy with deeper issues of human connection, misunderstanding, pride, and adversity; but really the fuss was about Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, who have a natural chemistry that took them, and everyone else, to the bank (and the Oscar podium). Walter Connolly plays the kind of big-hearted father figure here he would specialize for Preston Sturges in the ’40’s, and one wonders if Sturges didn’t find some inspiration for “Sullivan’s Travels” in Gable and Colbert’s penny-pinching trek through the hard hit South on their way to New York; both films toy with the notion that love and happiness can only be gained with a marked amount of self-sacrifice and worldly understanding of suffering, and both films equally charming, funny, and emotionally resonant. This film essentially launched Capra, in the business for nearly two decades already, to fame and a string of creative triumphs only few directors find in their careers.

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert light up the screen in this seminal screwball. Colbert is a socialite on the run from a wedding, and Gable is the tough reporter sticking to her to get the story. Pretty much every convention of modern romatic comedy had its genesis in this film. It’s not a deep picture, and it really doesn’t have muchtosay, but it’s undeniably enjoyable and it is such a template for later films that it can be counted as one of the most influential films of all time. It’s one of only three films to win all five major Academy Awards (best actor, actress, director, screenplay and film).