IT HAD TO HAPPEN: but not like this

IT HAD TO HAPPEN is an ill-conceived, lead-footed effort at screwball comedy-lite, dragged to it's death by the totally inability of its male star to play comedy.
George Raft was, as has been mentioned in several previous reviews on this site, an actor of limited range. He was most comfortable when interpreting roles which required a minimal range of emotions. Even when a role did require more George tended not to provide it. His style can most charitably be described as solid - in much the same way that a California Redwood is solid.
It did not naturally lend itself to screwball comedy's fast-paced repartee and battle of the sexes themed humour.
To be fair to director Roy Del Ruth, IT HAD TO HAPPEN is not strictly speaking a screwball comedy. It's a drama-cum-screwball wannabe, but even with that qualification Raft is not up to the job.
He plays Rico Scaffa, a poor Italian immigrant who rises rapidly to become a powerhouse in

New York City politics in exactly the same way he played every other role during his decade of improbable stardom in the 1930s and 40s - as a character devoid of movement in his facial muscles and pitch in his vocal delivery. The best Raft can manage is to raise his voice to a shout, which is how he chooses to recite the majority of his comedy lines.
But it's not just comedy that George struggles with. He can't do Italian immigrant either - a failing that Del Ruth cruelly highlights by pairing him up with professional Latino Leo Carrillo as Giuseppe, his traveling companion on the boat over from Italy (some may quibble that Italians are not Latinos but to 1930s Hollywood the debate was irrelevant. Italians, Spaniards and South Americans all spoke English with the same accent, so if an actor could play Mexican he could play Italian too).
For the first few scene-setting minutes of the movie Carrillo gives full vent to his naive Italian immigrant schtick while Raft remains mostly mute. This is a little strange given that Raft is the star and Carrillo merely the sidekick, but I'm presuming it was a deliberate move by Del Ruth to establish the pair as Italians before Raft opened his mouth and destroyed the illusion.
It's to Raft's credit - or perhaps his extremely limiting acting ability - that he makes no effort at an Italian accent, but it does undermine Rico's credibility as a character. Why is his English so good (he could easily be mistaken for a native speaker!) and his friend's so much more rudimentary when they've both arrived together on the same boat from Italy?
Rico's rise to power and success (the American Dream attained at breakneck speed) is similarly implausible. He's hired by the Mayor after a chance encounter and given a nebulous job which Rico parlays into a position as behind the scenes powerbroker. He knows everyone who matters and has them dancing to his tune. To the outsider it appears he's become corrupted by power but in fact he's putting it to honest use and looking out for the little guys who would otherwise become victims of the city's wealthy and crooked.
Quite how Rico rises to this position or why he wields such influence is never explained. From the available evidence it would appear he's shinned to to the top of greasy pole by simply shouting at anyone who dares to question or contradict him.
That Raft does not succeed in completely trashing this film is due to the heroic efforts of his co-star, Rosalind Russell. Still a star-in-the-making in 1935 she already displays more talent and versatility than Raft was ever able to muster, and she even manages to almost convince us that her wealthy society lady, Beatrice Newnes, could fall for a monotone ape like Rico. The light comedic touch that she was to put to such devastating use in the 1940 screwball classic "His Man Friday" is already evident, so if nothing else (and, really, this film doesn't offer anything else) IT HAD TO HAPPEN has value as an illustration of a great talent in the making.
And I'm still not sure what the 'it' is that had to happen.