It Happened One Night Transformation Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from It Happened One Night.

Quote #4

PETER: [I'm looking for] the sort of a girl that'd jump in the surf with me on moonlit nights—and love it as much as I did.

Although she seems stuck-up to him at first, it's significant that Ellie has been "the sort of a girl" he describes all along: The first thing we see her do, practically, is jump off a ship and into the ocean—in other words, into the surf. This is no accident; it's a clue that lets us know that even if Peter doesn't recognize it at first, Ellie's always been his dream girl.

Quote #5

ANDREWS: You've changed, Ellie.

Indeed she has. Andrews names the transformation that we've been tracking in this section: Ellie's metamorphosis. The poor little rich girl is all grown up, and she's found her "humanness" and her "humility," to use the words that appear in the screenplay. Together with these qualities, Ellie's also discovered her appetite for life and love, and Andrews, improbably perceptive near the end of the film, picks up on the signals she's emitting, all of which suggest that she's a changed gal.