Best Picture, 1934

Awards presented February 27, 1935

The nominees were ... 

• The Barretts of Wimpole Street 
• Cleopatra 
• Flirtation Walk 
• The Gay Divorcée 
• Here Comes the Navy 
• The House of Rothschild 
• Imitation of Life 
• It Happened One Night 
• One Night of Love 
• The Thin Man 
• Viva Villa! 
• The White Parade 

... when they should have been ...

• Flying Down to Rio  
• The Gay Divorcée 
• Imitation of Life 
• It Happened One Night 
• It's a Gift
• Manhattan Melodrama 
• The Merry Widow 
• Of Human Bondage  
• Queen Christina 
• The Scarlet Empress 
• The Thin Man 
• Twentieth Century

And the Oscar went to ...

It Happened One Night

So many things working so right: the teaming of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, the iconic moments (the hitchhiking scene, the walls of Jericho), and the launch of the golden age of romantic/screwball comedy. Its success inspired My Man Godfrey, The Awful Truth, Nothing Sacred, Easy Living, Bringing Up Baby, and Libeled Lady, among others. It Happened One Night was the first film to capture all five of the "top" Oscars: picture, actor, actress, director Frank Capra, and writer Robert Riskin. And for once, the Academy didn't shy away from honoring a "mere" comedy. It's also the first best picture winner that still shows up on people's lists of favorite films, a signal of the maturing of the sound film.