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Delightful screwball comedy about a runaway heiress and an itinerant newsman who tracks her down for the story. They bicker and fight and then fall in love in the prototype for the classic "road" style comedy. Is this the invention of the contemporary romantic comedy? Twentieth Century precedes this film, so maybe not. Capra and company may very well have perfected it here, though--a depressing thought if one thinks that the form has remained frozen in time since 1934, but that's not THIS film's fault.

The dialogue remains effervescent (particularly the "Walls of Jericho" scene) and the stars sparkle. Gable gives his best performance here (and nevermind that Rhett Butler nonsense) and Colbert set a standard for spoiled heiresses that has rarely been equalled (Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story or Bringing Up Baby is perhaps the closest rival). The best part about Capra's participation in the movie is that, unlike many of his other signature works, he doesn't have an agenda here, nor does he lay on the sentiment. This movie wants only to entertain--and entertain it does, in a big way.