Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103260039
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by ROBERT I. ALOTTA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Elizabeth Kendall, a professor at Bard College, has come up with a theory: She believes the high-society bride of "It Happened One Night" became the ideal for future films. These "runaway brides" included such stars as Claudette Colbert, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard, Irene Dunn, Myrna Loy and Barbara Stanwyck.
In Kendall's view, Frank Capra created the self-assured, stubborn, intelligent female, a character that continued throughout films, beginning in the 1930s. The author contends that directors such as Capra, George Stevens, Gregory La Cava, Leo McCarey and Preston Sturges responded to the audience's loss of faith in the basic elements of American life following the Depression.
Though she mentions some of the gangster films of the same period, she discounts them. The gangster film genre with the kid from the wrong side of the tracks who rises to riches were as popular with audiences as the romantic comedies. There was more to the disenchantment of the Depression audience than just the role of women in society. Times were tough. People were unhappy with their lives and the condition of the nation. Movies were escape for them; there was no television.
Kendall's thesis appears to have some of its roots in the ideas of Umberto Eco, written long before he became a best-selling novelist. Eco contended that the author - or, in this case, the director - is moved not so much by his own thinking, but by elements outside himself. This seems to be Kimball's point of view. It is an interesting one, and one that legitimately can be argued in an academic forum. "The Runaway Bride" will be of interest to film historians, but I doubt the film buff will find much of interest.
by CNB