Scripted by Capra's frequent collaborator Robert_Riskin, Frank_Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) became the prototypical screwball comedy and elevated Columbia Pictures from Poverty Row status to respectable "major minor" studio. Starring Clark_Gable, on loan from MGM as punishment, and Claudette_Colbert, on loan from Paramount for twice her usual pay, Capra's and Riskin's comic romance between a down-to-earth newspaper reporter and a spoiled runaway heiress set the standard for screwball. Its fast-paced repartee, kooky heroine, witty gags, and class-crossing love story became hallmarks of the genre in such later films as My_Man_Godfrey (1936) and Bringing_Up_Baby (1938); the overt lustiness barred by the 1934 Production Code was transmuted into clever banter and the romance conveyed an ideal Depression-era fantasy. A critical and commercial hit, It Happened One Night was the first film to sweep the top five Oscars, rewarding Capra, Riskin, Gable, and Colbert, and fulfilling Columbia impresario Harry_Cohn's desire to turn his B-studio into a class act. Undershirt sales reportedly plummeted when Gable revealed on screen that he wasn't wearing one. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

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