I've never seen this movie, but now I want to. I went looking for reviews, and I found one in which the reviewer agrees that it shows a power dynamic of male dominance; but being a good feminist, he seems to think this is a bad thing:

"He's also the one who repeatedly orchestrates the situation so that they can remain together, and his aversion never quite seems as pronounced as hers. He actually seems quite content to remain in her company—provided he can constantly belittle and control her. Over and over again, the movie is about bringing her down a peg. ...

I was starting to read their relationship as an early cinematic example of a BDSM relationship... this is less When Harry Met Sally and more, er, Secretary. I was so involved in this read that I wasn't actually surprised when Gable starts literally spanking her.

So, uh, yeah, unless she's got a submissive streak, it's not quite clear what Ellie is getting out of all this. At times there's a palpable disconnect between what she seems to want and what she's actually getting in Peter: at one point in the film, she lets her guard down and reveals that she's always felt trapped and stifled by her domineering father. One begins to wonder, at this juncture, whether the film is even aware that what Ellie appears to be doing is swapping out one domineering man for another. (The scene seems intended to be heartwarming, but it actually just struck me as tragic.)"

Oh, what a bizarre thought, that a woman in love might have some sort of "submissive streak"—and how very tragic! (Irony intended.)

It's part of a series of reviews of old films, looking at the power dynamics of gender (one of the topics feminists love to kick around ad nauseum), especially focusing on the theme of "controlling the feminine." The reviewer likes the femme fatale figures in noir films, but apparently even those are not sufficiently in line with feminist dogma:

"The dated gender attitudes really hobble the film. [It Happened One Night] The tide, in some ways, is about to turn: the later, more engaging screwball comedies are not without their feminist qualities, and we're also on the cusp of the noir cycle, whose fatales represent some of the most strong-headed and autonomous female characters from this era. (Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that the films from the noir cycle are all that progressive: certainly many of them also manifest a great interest in controlling the feminine."

Personally, I would like to see more of the homme fatale —the beautiful, mysterious, darkly charming, hypnotic, dangerous, and seductive male—in books and films. That seems to be a domain of male romantic dominance that gets overlooked a lot, even here. I guess bodice-ripper romance novels have had their share of homme fatale heroes, for their female readers to swoon over. But not so much in movies; not these days anyway.

(Maybe Rudolph Valentino in years past was a good example of the homme fatale archetype, in some of his movies? Women of that era went mad with lust for him. Also some vampire films have the beautiful but deadly dominant male. It's interesting that vampire films are making a comeback now, like with the Twilight series. I haven't seen the films, but skimming the first book, it did seem to suggest a male dominant kind of romance. That's one reason why the feminists have been denouncing it as "misogynistic." Because, you know, any woman who loves dominant men must hate women, or some such dogmatic nonsense.)