It Happened One Night was a “screwball” comedy directed by Frank Capra in 1934. Screwball comedy gets its humor from its characters and its improbable situations. The movie is about a spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews, played by Claudette Colbert. The heiress ran away from her family because of her father who didn’t like the man that she was with.

Ellie was running away to New York City when she met Peter Warne, played by Clark Cable. Peter is a reporter who been looking for a story for his dying career when he met Ellie on the bus. He was very eager to find a story that when he found out that Ellie was on the same bus, he didn’t miss the chance.

During their trip to New York City, the duo gets into several adventures. And during their adventures, you’ll see how “sex” is being repressed. You’ll also observe how the Code by the Catholic Legion of Decency restricts showing the “real” story or what’s actually happening in the movie. You won’t be seeing “adultery and illicit sex,” “seduction or rape,” “vulgarity,” etc. in the movie because of the “moral and societal” code.

One of Ellie and Peter’s adventures is when they had to hitchhike for a ride when either of them didn’t have enough money to continue riding the bus. Peter said that he could get them a ride by using his “hitchhiking fingers”. He tried a million times but it was not successful. So, what Ellie said that she wanted to give it a try. And something completely unexpected happened. She pulled up her skirt and showed off her leg. What we consider to be normal today would seem vulgar to the eyes of someone who’s in the 20’s. Even the actress Claudette Colbert didn’t want to do the scene.

Both Ellie and Peter had a “moment” that the Catholic Legion of Decency would not accept. When they were hitchhiking, they had to sleep on a haystack in a deserted barn. Even though you know there were “sparks” going on between them, they couldn’t really show it because it’s inappropriate, again, according to the code.

Another scene that shows the reinforcement of the moral or societal restrictions of a couple was when they “built” the “Walls of Jericho.” The “Walls of Jericho” was made out of a blanket separating the non-couple couple. This scene is very popular because Ellie and Peter were “forced” to sleep in the same little room. They were forced to be nice to each other. In that same room, they got to know each other and grew to actually like each other. And they had to change in the same room.

There are other little things that you’ll notice in the movie that reinforces the moral and societal restrictions of a couple, married or not.