DVD Review: Nothing Sacred (1937)
One of those movies that somehow slipped into the public domain and became widely available, “Nothing Sacred” once found its way on several late night telecasts on low rent UHF stations. The fact that there was no copyright, and that the film was in color, made it an attractive movie to telecast. Thing is, due to its public domain status, it was duped and reduped, so there was never a truly great quality print of the film. Thus, the new blu ray release of “Nothing Sacred” from KINO is worth celebrating as we now have a nice restored print, with vibrant color. And the film itself holds up as one of the funniest and most delightfully cynical screwball comedies of its time.
Fredric March is Wally Cook, an enterprising newspaper reporter who is not beyond embellishment. When an African sultan he has championed in his column turns out to be an ordinary shoeshine man, Cook is demoted by editor Oliver Stone (Walter Connelly) to writing obituaries. Wally soon gathers a story about small town girls Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) who is dying of radiation poisoning. Hazel discovers she is actually not dying, but maintain the ruse for Wally because she sees it as a free trip out of her limited small town.
When the truth is discovered, everyone must somehow save face.
History tells us that Ben Hecht wrote the screenplay for this David O. Selznick production over a two week train ride. Before it got into the hands of director William Wellman, it had been further honed by uncredited contributions from the likes of Budd Schulberg, Ring Lardner, Dorothy Parker, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman, and Robert Carson. Some accounts claim that Hecht wrote a part of his friend John Barrymore, but Selznick refused to cast the alcoholic, unreliable actor and Hecht walked off the picture.
Janet Gaynor was originally set to star as Hazel, having scored well for the same producer, director, and co-star in “A Star is Born” earlier this same year. But after meeting Carole Lombard, Wellman insisted on casting her in the role. “Nothing Sacred” became Lombard’s only color film, and one of her favorite roles. The film is rounded out by welcome supporting actors like Charles Winninger, Margaret Hamilton, Sig Ruman, Maxie Rosenbloom, Ann Doran, Charles Lane, and Bess Flowers. Everyone in the cast, top to bottom, is at their best.
“Nothing Sacred” is filled with funny scenes, including a wrestling show that stops in mid-match to observe a moment of silence for Hazel, who is in attendance. A waiter gulps back sobs as he serves Hazel in a nightclub. All of the patrons in the club tearfully applaud her appearance.
It is bizarre that a reworking of this film, the funny “Living it Up” (1954) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, was a massive box office hit, while the original version was a box office flop. “Nothing Sacred” lost over $400,000 at the box office. But the film has grown considerably and is now considered a classic. It was screened during the classics section of the Venice Film Festival as recently as July of 2018. Along with the Martin and Lewis remake (with Martin as the doctor, Jerry in the Lombard role, and Janet Leigh in the Fredric March part), there was a 1953 Broadway musical called “Hazel Flagg.”
KINO’s blu ray is a brand new HD master from a 2K scan of the restored fine grain master. It surpasses their previous blu ray restoration of the same film. It features an interesting and informative commentary by William Wellman jr.
Nothing Sacred is available here: Nothing Sacred blu ray