It Happened One Night: 1934 Best Picture

Now we are up to 1934, when “It Happened One Night” was up against 11 other films for the Best Picture of the year. It would be another 10 years before they cut it down to 5 nominations. By contrast, director, Frank Capra, male lead, Clark Gable, and screenwriter, Robert Riskin were only up against 2 nominees. Female lead, Claudette Colbert was one of 4 nominated for Best Actress. The film yielded Oscars in all 5 categories, a feat that would not be matched until 1976 with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

That remarkable accomplishment did not go unnoticed by Jeopardy!
TCM’S 31 DAYS OF OSCAR $1200: This 1934 classic was the first movie to win Oscars in the 3 major categories, including Best Actor & Actress

In fact, a film that has won multiple Oscars is fine pickings for clues:
OSCAR-WINNING CO-STARS $800: Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert (1934)
BEST ACTOR OSCAR WINNERS $1200: 1934: Clark Gable for this romantic comedy
“NIGHT” MOVIES $300: In this 1934 classic, Alan Hale was the driver who stopped at the sight of Claudette Colbert’s leg
1930s COMEDIES $2000: In this film Clark Gable reassures Claudette Colbert saying, “The walls of Jericho will protect you from the Big Bad Wolf”
BEST PICTURE OSCAR WINNERS $600: This Oscar winner starring Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert was based on a cosmopolitan short story titled “Night Bus”
DOUBLE “H” $400: In “It Happened One Night”, Clark Gable used his thumb to do this; Claudette Colbert bared her leg
PEOPLE $300: This actress, who stopped traffic in “It Happened One Night”, passed away in 1996
THE OSCARS $400: “It Happened One Night” that she became the first French-born actress to win an Oscar

More clues on 1934 films:
ENTERTAINING JOHNS $1600: This actor played an impresario who turns Carole Lombard into a star in the 1934 film “Twentieth Century”
CLASSIC CINEMA $400 (Daily Double): This actress seen here emerged as a comic star in 1934’s “Twentieth Century”
“GAY”IETY $600: This 1934 Astaire-Rogers film featured the Oscar-winning song “The Continental”
THE NIFTY 1930s $400: 1934 was the first year for this Oscar category, & the winner was “The Continental”
HITCHCOCK $800: Hitchcock made this film in 1934 & then remade it in 1956 with Doris Day & Jimmy Stewart
“MAN”LY MOVIES $1000: Hitchcock “Man” played by Leslie Banks in 1934 & James Stewart in 1956
OSCAR $2000: This actress was not an official nominee for 1934’s “Of Human Bondage”, but she finished third in a write-in campaign
ADAPTATIONS $1000: Leslie Howard ordered a waitress “to go” in the 1934 film of this Maugham novel
THE DAMON RUNYON STORY $200: Based on a Runyon story, 1934’s “Little Miss Marker” starred her as a little imp left as an IOU for a debt
LAVERNES & SHIRLEYS SING! $200: In the 1934 film “Bright Eyes” she belted out “On the Good Ship Lollipop”
CELEBRITIES’ FAVORITE MOVIES $800: (I’m Andy Richter.) I’m crazy about 1934’s “It’s a Gift”, the masterpiece of this comedian & his alcoholic, henpecked persona
EGYPTIAN CINEMA $400: In 1934, Claudette Colbert played this Egyptian; in 1963, Elizabeth Taylor did
ACTORS’ ALMA MATERS $400: A 1928 graduate of Bryn Mawr, she won her first acting Oscar in 1934
TRIOS $400: Beginning an amazing run of about 200 comedy two-reelers, this trio made “Woman Haters” in 1934
FILM RENOIR $800: In 1934 Jean Renoir filmed this Gustave Flaubert novel, with Valentine Tessier in the title role
OLD MOVIES $800: Norma Shearer played Elizabeth Barrett Browning in a 1934 film version of “The Barretts of” this street
MOVIE REMAKES $400: One reviewer was “bored to death” by this 1998 Brad Pitt epic, a remake of 1934’s “Death Takes a Holiday”
GREAT DAMES $500: Ruby Keeler was among the “dames” this choreographer set tapping in the 1934 musical of the same name