Nothing Sacred DVD 1937 / Directed by William A. Wellman / Starring: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly

UPC 798622313225

MADE IN USA

REGION 1 NTSC DVD

AUDIO: English mono

SUBTITLES: -

TOTAL RUNTIME: 75 MINUTES

English Summary:

Nothing Sacred is an American Technicolor screwball comedy film directed in 1937 by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March with a supporting cast featuring Charles Winninger and Walter Connolly. Ben Hecht 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, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman and Robert Carson made uncredited contributions.

The lush, Gershwinesque music score was by Oscar Levant, with additional music by Alfred Newman and Max Steiner and a swing number by Raymond Scott's Quintette. The film was shot in Technicolor by W. Howard Greene and edited by James E. Newcom, and was a Selznick International Pictures production distributed by United Artists. 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.

 New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (Fredric March) is blamed for reporting a Harlem bootblack Ernest Walker (Troy Brown) 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 (Walter Connolly) for another chance, and points out a story about a woman, Hazel Flagg, dying of radium poisoning. Cook is sent to the (fictional) town of Warsaw, Vermont, to interview Flagg (Carole Lombard). 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.

Cast

• Carole Lombard as Hazel Flagg
• 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 as Master of Ceremonies
• Troy Brown as Ernest Walker
• Maxie Rosenbloom as Max Levinsky
• Margaret Hamilton as Warsaw, Vermont Drugstore Lady
• Hattie McDaniel as Mrs. Walker
• Olin Howland as Will Bull
• Raymond Scott as Musical Leader
• John Qualen as Fireman
• George Chandler as photographer (uncredited)

According to William Wellman Jr., Janet Gaynor 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.