History YMMV / ItHappenedOneNight

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** To a modern viewer, it can play like a film that just strings together almost every possible clichéd RomanticComedy and RoadMovie trope. Of course, it actually [[TropeCodifier codified]] (if not [[UrExample invented]]) most of them.
** It also might seem familiar because Creator/AlfredHitchcock openly borrowed elements from it for some of his influential early {{Thriller}} classics. ''[[Film/The39Steps1935 The 39 Steps]]'', ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'' and ''Film/{{Saboteur}}'' all pair charming Peter-like guys with uptight Ellie-like women and send them on a journey together.

** It's fascinating to see how a RoadTripPlot plays out in an era when car ownership was far from universal, and when train travel was a bit of a luxury, and air travel was out of reach of all but the wealthy, so bus lines were the most affordable way to travel long distances in America. And bus trips had their own little rituals, like stopping for meals or people walking down the aisles hawking items for sale. And also, it's an era when motels had detached cabin rooms and community showers.

* AdaptationDisplacement:
** Unless you paid attention to the opening credits, odds are you weren't aware that it's based on a novella by Samuel Hopkins Adams called ''Night Bus'', which was printed in ''Magazine/{{Cosmopolitan}}'' in 1933.
** Today, Gable's character munching on a carrot would likely be thought to be a reference to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, for whom it is a defining element of his character. In fact, Bugs doing this is a reference to ''this'' movie, which is nowhere near as well-remembered.

* FlatCharacter: King Westley doesn't have very many scenes and we don't learn that much about him. He's more of an [[DisposableFiance obstacle that prevents Peter and Ellie from being together]] than he is a character in his own right.

** It's fascinating to see how a RoadTripPlot plays out in an era when car ownership was far from universal, and when train travel was a bit of a luxury, and plane travel was out of reach of all but the wealthy, so bus lines were the most affordable way to travel long distances in America. And bus trips had their own little rituals, like stopping for meals or people walking down the aisles hawking items for sale. And also, it's an era when motels had detached cabin rooms and community showers.

** It's fascinating to see how a RoadTripPlot plays out in an era when car ownership was far from universal, and when train travel was a bit of a luxury, so bus lines were the most affordable way to travel long distances in America. And bus trips had their own little rituals, like stopping for meals or people walking down the aisles hawking items for sale. And also, it's an era when motels had detached cabin rooms and community showers.