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It Happened One Night poster

Movies that feel likeIt Happened One Night (1934)

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

If you loved It Happened One Night, the closest films we have are The Philadelphia Story (1940), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Horse Feathers (1932). All three share It Happened One Night's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Palm Beach Story (1942).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Frank Caprawittyplayfulromantic
6 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Kino Film Collection · Pure Flix

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If It Happened One Night hit the spot, these will too

The Philadelphia Story poster
The Philadelphia Story
1940 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 100%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Two things both keep coming back to: reporter and black and white

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

You Can't Take It with You poster
You Can't Take It with You
1938 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 94%★ 7.8comedy · romance

The same hand behind both of them: Frank Capra

Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.

Horse Feathers poster
Horse Feathers
1932 · dir. Norman Z. McLeod
🍅 97%★ 7.5comedy · romance

The same preoccupation in both: pre-code

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.

My Man Godfrey poster
My Man Godfrey
1936 · dir. Gregory La Cava
🍅 97%★ 7.9comedyPrime Video

Common ground in both: screwball comedy and socialite

Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town poster
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 90%★ 7.8comedy · drama · romance

Frank Capra directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into drama than It Happened One Night does

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Bringing Up Baby poster
Bringing Up Baby
1938 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 97%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.

The Palm Beach Story poster
The Palm Beach Story
1942 · dir. Preston Sturges
🍅 94%★ 7.5comedy · romance

One thread runs through both: marriage

A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III.

The Awful Truth poster
The Awful Truth
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 94%★ 7.6comedy · romance

Common ground: screwball comedy

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. poster
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 · dir. Charles Reisner
🍅 96%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Both land wit and play at once

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

Seven Chances poster
Seven Chances
1925 · dir. Buster Keaton
🍅 94%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Both lean on romance more than on comedy

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

Adam's Rib poster
Adam's Rib
1949 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 96%★ 7.4comedy · romance

Both are built on the same subject: marriage

A woman's attempted murder of her uncaring husband results in everyday quarrels in the lives of Adam and Amanda, a pair of happily married lawyers who end up on opposite sides of the case in court.

On the Town poster
On the Town
1949 · dir. Gene Kelly
🍅 94%★ 7.3comedy · romance

Romance with a pulse of wit, in both cases

Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.

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The best-reviewed films that share It Happened One Night’s defining feeling.