NOTHING SACRED video quality upgrade

1937

Comedies, screwball comedies, Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly

This print is much sharper and cleaner than the existing IA copy, and it is in the correct aspect ratio. A telling spoof of instant celebrity culture and one of the thirties' great screwball comedies with a cast well suited to its whacky screenplay. Directed by William Wellman. Released in 1937. Complete print.

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Nothing Sacred is a 1937 Technicolor screwball comedy film made by Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by William A. Wellman and produced by David O. Selznick, from a screenplay credited to Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street. Other writers, including Ring Lardner Jr., Budd Schulberg, Dorothy Parker, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman and Robert Carson (writer) also made uncredited contributions to the screenplay.
The film stars Carole Lombard and Fredric March, with a supporting cast including Walter Connolly, Charles Winninger, Margaret Hamilton, Hattie McDaniel, Frank Fay (American actor) and Max Rosenbloom.
The lush, Gershwinesque music score was by Oscar Levant, with additional music by Alfred Newman (composer) and Max Steiner and a swing number by Raymond Scott's Quintette. The film was shot in Technicolor by W. Howard Greene. In 1965, the film entered the List of films in the public domain in the United States due to the claimants failure to renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.<></>

Plot

New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (Fredric March) tries to pass off an ordinary African-American (Troy Brown) as an African nobleman hosting a charity event. Cook is demoted to writing Obituary. He begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for another chance. Wally is sent to the (fictional) town of Warsaw, Vermont, to interview Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a woman supposedly dying of radium poisoning. Cook finally locates Hazel, who is crying because her doctor has told her that she is not dying. Unaware of this, he invites her to New York as the guest of the Morning Star newspaper.
The newspaper uses her story to increase its circulation. She receives a ticker tape parade and the key to the city, and becomes an inspiration to many. In addition, she and Wally fall in love. When it is finally discovered that Hazel is not really dying, city officials decide that it would be better to avoid embarrassment by having it seem that she committed suicide. Hazel and Wally get married and quietly set sail for the tropics.

Cast

Image:Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred trailer.jpg
Image:Margaret Hamilton in Nothing Sacred 2.jpg

Carole Lombard as Hazel Flagg. This was Lombard's only Technicolor film. She stated that this film was one of her personal favorites.
Fredric March as Wally Cook
Charles Winninger as Dr. Enoch Downer
Walter Connolly as Oliver Stone
Sig Ruman as Dr. Emil Eggelhoffer (as Sig Rumann)
Frank Fay (American actor) as Master of Ceremonies
Troy Brown as Ernest Walker
Maxie Rosenbloom as Max Levinsky. A boxing world champion, Rosenbloom gave Lombard boxing lessons to prepare her for her fight scene with Fredric March.
Margaret Hamilton as Warsaw, Vermont Drugstore Lady
Hattie McDaniel as Mrs. Walker
Olin Howland as Will Bull
Raymond Scott as Musical Leader

According to William Wellman Jr., Janet Gaynor had originally been cast as Hazel Flagg to follow up on the success of A Star is Born (1937 film) (1937). However, after William Wellman Sr. met Carole Lombard, he convinced Selznick to cast her.

Production

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 and other studios ined this technique in their subsequent color features.</>

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $400,000 at the box office.< name="david"/>

Remakes

Ben Hecht's screenplay was also the basis of a Broadway theatre musical, Hazel Flagg (1953) with Helen Gallagher, as well as Living It Up (1954), a comedy film starring Dean Martin in the Winninger role, Jerry Lewis in the Lombard role (as Homer Flagg), and Janet Leigh in the March role.

Watch Rare Films from Our Vaults] - the restored Nothing Sacred, amongst others, at the

First Person: Restoring Film with Digital Recombination] [http://digitalcontentproducer.com/ Digital Content Producer article on the 1999 restoration