''Nothing Sacred'' is a 1937 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

screwball comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. ...

, and starring

Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 2 ...

and

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

with a supporting cast featuring

Charles Winninger Charles J. Winninger (May 26, 1884 – January 27, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals. Life and career Winninger was born in Athens, Wisconsin, the son of Rosalia (Grassler) and Franz Winninger ...

and Walter Connolly.

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...

was credited with the screenplay based on the 1937 story "Letter to the Editor" by James H. Street, and an array of additional writers, including Ring Lardner Jr., Budd Schulberg,

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart,

George S. Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and other ...

and Robert Carson made uncredited contributions. The lush, Gershwinesque music score was by

Oscar Levant Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906August 14, 1972) was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian and actor. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for rec ...

, with additional music by

Alfred Newman Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Aca ...

and Max Steiner and a swing number by Raymond Scott's Quintette. The film was shot in Technicolor by

W. Howard Greene William Howard Greene (1895–1956) was an American cinematographer. Career Greene was a cinematographer on many early Technicolor films, including '' Legong: Dance of the Virgins'' (1935) and '' A Star Is Born'' (1937). Awards * 1937: Special ...

and edited by James E. Newcom, and was a Selznick International Pictures production distributed by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

. The film's opening credits feature distinctive caricatures of the leading actors, as 3d-figurines, and creative artists, as 2d-cartoons, by Sam Berman. This was Lombard's only Technicolor film. She stated that this film was one of her personal favorites.

Plot

New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook is blamed for reporting a

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

bootblack Ernest Walker as an African nobleman hosting a charity event. Cook claims he was unaware, but he is demoted to writing obituaries. He begs his boss Oliver Stone for another chance, and points out a story about a woman, Hazel Flagg, reportedly dying of radium poisoning. Cook is sent to the (fictional) town of Warsaw, Vermont, to interview Hazel. Cook finally locates Hazel, who is crying both because her doctor has told her that she is ''not'' dying and because she realizes she might be stuck in Vermont for her whole life. Unaware of this, Cook invites Hazel and her doctor to New York as guests of the ''Morning Star'' newspaper. The newspaper uses her story to increase its circulation. She receives a

ticker tape parade A ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in an urban setting, characterized by large amounts of shredded paper thrown onto the parade route from the surrounding buildings, creating a celebratory flurry of paper. Originally, actual ticker ta ...

and the key to the city, and becomes an inspiration to many. She and Wally fall in love, and he asks her to marry him even though he still thinks she's dying. After a medical exam by three independent doctors, it is finally discovered that Hazel is not really dying, and city officials and Stone decide that it would be better to avoid embarrassment by having it seem that she went off to die, "like an elephant". Hazel and Wally get married and quietly set sail for the tropics.

Cast

Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred trailer

According to William Wellman Jr.,

Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (late ...

had originally been cast as Hazel Flagg to follow on the success of '' A Star is Born'' (1937). However, after William Wellman Sr. met Carole Lombard, he convinced Selznick to cast her. A boxing world champion, Maxie Rosenbloom, gave Lombard boxing lessons to prepare her for her fight scene with Fredric March.

Production

Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred 2 cropped

Fredric March and Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred 3

The first screwball comedy filmed in color, ''Nothing Sacred'' also represents the first use in a color film of process effects, montage and rear screen projection. Backgrounds for the rear projection were filmed on the streets of New York.

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and other studios refined this technique in their subsequent color features. Ben Hecht is credited with writing the screenplay in two weeks on a train. He adapted the story "Letter to the Editor" by James H. Street which had been first been published in '' Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan''. Hecht wrote a role for his friend

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

in the film, but David Selznick refused to use him as Barrymore had become by then an incurable alcoholic. This caused a rift between Hecht and Selznick, and Hecht walked off the picture. Budd Schulberg and

were called in to write the final scenes and several others also made contributions to the screenplay, including:

, William Wellman, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart,

and Robert Carson. One reason that the film is considered among the most celebrated screwball comedies is that underneath the humor it incorporates sharply cynical themes of corruption and dishonesty. This film, along with Hecht's '' The Front Page'' (1931) and its 1940 remake '' His Girl Friday'' with

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

, caricatures the chicanery to which some newspapers resorted in order to get a "hot" story.

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $350,000 at the box office; despite critical acclaim. In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the

75th Venice International Film Festival The 75th Venice International Film Festival was held from 29 August to 8 September 2018. Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro was named as the President of the Jury. '' First Man'', directed by Damien Chazelle, was selected to open the f ...

Copyright and home media

In 1965, the film entered the

public domain in the United States Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights (such as copyright) at all, or if the intellectual property rights to the works have expired. All works first published or released in the United States b ...

because the copyright owners did not renew its

copyright registration The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event of a legal claim, or case of infringement or plagiarism, the copyright owner can produce a cop ...

in the 28th year after publication. Because of its public domain status, the film is a staple of bargain bin releases and collections. Although it was generally in watchable condition, until recently the best DVD was a US region 0 disc from Lumivision, later reissued by Sling Shot. In 2011,

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

issued the film on DVD and Blu-ray, mastered from a 2K scan of Selznick's personal nitrate print, preserved by the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

Motion Picture Department. In 2018, Kino reissued their Blu-ray, this time mastered from a 2K scan of Disney's 1999 restoration, carried out on behalf of ABC, holder of most of the Selznick library.

Remakes

Ben Hecht's screenplay was also the basis of a Broadway musical '' Hazel Flagg'' (1953), with

Helen Gallagher Helen Gallagher (born July 19, 1926) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award. Early years Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York, and the Br ...

, as well as '' Living It Up'' (1954), a comedy film starring

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

in the Winninger role,

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

in the Lombard role (as Homer Flagg), and

Janet Leigh Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...

in the March role.

References

External links

* * * *
Watch Rare Films from Our Vaults
– the restored ''Nothing Sacred'', amongst others, at the Dryden Theatre
First Person: Restoring Film with Digital RecombinationDigital Content Producer
– article on the 1999 restoration *
''Nothing Sacred''
on '' Lux Radio Theater'': November 11, 1940 {{David O. Selznick 1937 films 1937 comedy-drama films 1937 romantic comedy films 1937 romantic drama films 1930s black comedy films 1930s color films 1930s English-language films 1930s romantic comedy-drama films 1930s satirical films 1930s screwball comedy films American black comedy films American romantic comedy-drama films American satirical films American screwball comedy films Films about con artists Films about journalists Films based on short fiction Films directed by William A. Wellman Films produced by David O. Selznick Films set in New York City Films set in Vermont Films with screenplays by Ben Hecht Selznick International Pictures films United Artists films 1930s American films