Cinemas Greatest Scenes: It Happened One Night (1934) – ‘The Walls of Jericho’ Scene.

A greatest films list without Frank Capra is an injustice to the great director who made films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). It’s fair to say these are all incredible films but his crowning achievement was the pre code romantic screwball comedy It Happened One Night (1934) which won 5 oscars (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay). Films like It Happened One Night were all the rage in the early 30s and 40s. It tells most of its madcap story on the road with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable forced to tolerate each other. All in all, I adore this film because it is fun and sexy with Colbert as a runaway heiress (Ellie Andrews) and Gable as a single-minded reporter (Peter Warne) who smells a front page story. 

Two famous scenes always come to mind when I think back to its most memorable moments. The first involves Gable trying to educate Colbert on the fine art of hitchhiking. But when his hitchhiker’s thumb fails miserable to flag down a car, Colbert gives it a go by hitching up her skirt and using her leg to stop the first approaching car. It’s a riotous good-natured battle of the sexes moment, which sees Colbert win one over for the ladies, as a strong-willed and independent woman. In the second memorable scene from the film (and our focus here for this series), our two protagonists are holed up in a cabin separated only by the ‘Walls of Jericho’. This scene is noteworthy for many reasons. Primarily, because the ‘Walls of Jericho’, a blanket wall between two single beds, is symbolic of a line Capra’s characters Peter and Ellie cannot cross despite their growing attraction to each other and because of the external forces which hold them to account.

The long and short of it is that Peter has promised to help Ellie get back to her husband in exchange for the rights to her socialite story. To do so, they must travel incognito to evade Ellie’s father henchmen from catching up with her. But when a washed-out bridge stops their bus from moving on to their final destination, they are forced to improvise by posing as a married couple so they can spend the night in a cabin out of the driving rain.

The scene opens with Ellie far from impressed with Peter who has secured them a room to share for the night. But he quickly points out they had very little choice in the matter considering their dwindling funds. However Ellie believes he has a hidden agenda. To some degree she’s right. Peter quickly confesses that if she were to skips out on him before he got his story, he’d be forced to turn her over to her father. If we were to read between the lines, I believe Ellie is pretty disappointed that Peter’s interest in her is seemingly just strictly business. Even though she pretends to be annoyed by him most of the time, she’s actually grown fond of him, which kind of scares her. But to reassures her of his honourable intentions (and business arrangement) Peter erects a blanket wall between the two beds in the room to keep her save from ‘the big bad wolf’.    

At first Ellie is a little bewildered by the extraordinary effort he makes to divide the room. “That I suppose makes everything alright?” she enquiries.

“Oh this?” Peter playfully points out, “Well, I like privacy when I retire. Yes, I’m very delicate in that respect. Prying eyes annoy me. Behold the walls of Jericho! Uh, maybe not as thick as the ones that Joshua blew down with his trumpet, but a lot safer. You see I have no trumpets.”

What Peter is actually trying to do here is twofold. On one hand he is innocently flirting with Ellie but at the same time he is trying to put her at ease. When Peter offers Ellie a pair of his best pyjamas, she surprisingly ignores him. So he flings them at her and then insists would she mind joining the Israelites on the other side of the room. When Ellie refuses to adhere to the safety protocols Peter has implemented with his symbolic wall, he proceeds to strip naked with a song and dance about how a man undresses. But by the time he is ready to unbuckle his pants (he’s already shirtless), Ellie runs uncomfortably to the other side of the room. 

Many scenes in It Happened One Night including this one pushed the boundaries of storytelling at a time when the Motion Picture Production Code – also known as the Hays Code – was about to dictate what people would see on-screen, especially if it was morally questionable. (The Hays Code was enforced between 1934 and 1968.) While tame compared to say modern standards, Capra was still able to get away with talk around sex with innuendo and symbolism (hence the ‘Wall of Jericho’) . 

Despite the standoff between Peter and Ellie averted, the circumstances in the cabin surprisingly still remained tense, as Ellie looks out her window for an avenue of escape. The heavy rain though outside quickly changes her mind. Frustrated by the predicament she’s found herself in, she decided to brood in silence. Peter eventually pipes up by asking if she is still there. When she doesn’t respond he tries to console her by saying, “Ah, don’t be a sucker. A good night’s rest will do you a lot of good. Besides you have nothing to worry about. The Walls of Jericho will protect you from the big bad wolf.” He doesn’t let up and starts to sing the nursery rhythm “Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf”. Ellie feels indignant at being the object of ridicule but sucks it up anyway.

When the lights finally go out, Ellie proceeds to undress while Peter wonders what the hell is happening from behind the blanket wall. When Ellie absent-mindedly drapes her underclothes over the blanket, Peter’s surprised and says, “I wish you’d take those things off the Walls of Jericho.” She quickly apologies, pulls them off and finishes undressing. (The sight of her underclothes draped over the ‘Wall of Jericho’ actually makes for a sexier scene.)  

The scene concludes with Ellie ready for bed and dressed in Peter’s pyjamas having reluctantly accepted the situation. But before she turns in she asks, “By the way, what’s your name?” because still at this point she knows very little about him. As the conversation plays out, they banter back and forth about his name.

“What’s that?,” Peter says.

“Who are you?,” Ellie asks again.

“Who me?,” Peter says with a wry smile. “I’m the whippoorwill that cries in the night. I’m the soft morning breeze that caresses your lovely face.”

Still lacking an explanation, Ellie asks again, “You’ve got a name, haven’t you?

“Yeah, I got a name. Peter Warne.’

“Peter Warne?,” Ellie exclaims. “I don’t like it.”

“Don’t let it bother you,” Peter asserts. “You’re giving it back to me in the morning.”

Ellie extends him some pleasantries by concluding, “Please to meet you, Mr. Warne.” To which Peter replies, “The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Warne.” 

It’s a tongue-in-cheek end to the scene which started out with so much tension. Our two protagonists, a little more comfortable with each other now, have all but accepted their roles as a married couple to get through the night. Interestingly, a whole lot of married couples sleeping in seperate beds would become the norm in movies during the Hays Code era. 

As for the infamous ‘Walls of Jericho’ it will play its part again in a subsequent scene. However next time Ellie will breach the wall to declare to Peter she has fallen in love with him. Regrettably, he’ll end up sending her back to her own bed in tears, only to later realise that he actually loves her. In the film’s final scene, a toy trumpet will metaphorically announce the toppling of the wall. Its symbolism will signal (without showing it) the consummation of their love for each other.