Nothing Sacred (film)
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| Nothing Sacred | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William A. Wellman |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Written by | Ben Hecht Budd Schulberg Ring Lardner Jr. James H. Street Budd Schulberg James H. Street (story) |
| Starring | Carole Lombard Fredric March Walter Connolly |
| Music by | Oscar Levant |
| Cinematography | W. Howard Greene |
| Editing by | James E. Newcom |
| Distributed by | Selznick International United Artists |
| Release date(s) | November 25 1937 |
| Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Nothing Sacred (1937) is a 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 by Ben Hecht, Ring Lardner Jr. and Budd Schulberg, based on a story by James H. Street. The film stars Carole Lombard and Fredric March, with a supporting cast that includes Walter Connolly, Charles Winninger, Margaret Hamilton, Hattie McDaniel, Frank Fay and Max Rosenbloom.
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 Quintet. The film was shot in Technicolor by W. Howard Greene. The costume design for Carole Lombard's gowns was by Travis Banton.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
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. The original cut had some gross ridicule added to the simple comeuppance that remains when the man's wife appears to ruin his scheme, but this was removed. Wally Cook is demoted to writing obituaries. He begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for another chance.
Wally is sent to Vermont to interview Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a woman supposedly dying of radium poisoning. When Cook finally locates Hazel, she 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 Sun 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.
[edit] Background and notes
- This was Carole Lombard's only Technicolor film.
- Max Rosenbloom, who appears briefly in the film, gave Lombard boxing lessons to prepare her for her fight scene with Fredric March.
- 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 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 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 Dorothy Parker were called in to write the final scenes and several others also made contributions to the screenplay, including: David O. Selznick, William Wellman, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman and Robert Carson.
- Lombard had several strongmen bind director William Wellman in a straightjacket in order to have his undivided attention. (Courtesy TCM)
- During a production break, Lombard and March took the rented fire engine and went careening around the Selznick production lot. (Courtesy TCM)
- Lombard stated that of her films, this was one of her personal favorites.
[edit] Remakes
Ben Hecht's screenplay was also the basis of a Broadway musical called Hazel Flagg (1953), as well as Living It Up (1954), a movie starring Dean Martin in the Charles Winninger role, Jerry Lewis in the Carole Lombard role, and Janet Leigh in the Fredric March role.
[edit] External links
William A. Wellman | |
|---|---|
| 1920s | Second Hand Love • The Man Who Won • Big Dan • Cupid's Fireman • Not a Drum Was Heard • The Vagabond Trail • The Circus Cowboy • When Husbands Flirt • The Boob • You Never Know Women • The Cat's Pajamas • Wings • The Legion of the Condemned • Ladies of the Mob • Beggars of Life • Chinatown Nights • The Man I Love • Woman Trap |
| 1930s | Dangerous Paradise • Young Eagles • Maybe It's Love • Other Men's Women • The Public Enemy • Night Nurse • The Star Witness • Safe in Hell • The Hatchet Man • So Big! • Love Is a Racket • The Purchase Price • The Conquerors • Frisco Jenny • Central Airport • Lilly Turner • Heroes for Sale • Midnight Mary • Wild Boys of the Road • College Coach • Looking for Trouble • Stingaree • The President Vanishes • The Call of the Wild • The Robin Hood of El Dorado • Small Town Girl • A Star Is Born • Nothing Sacred • Men With Wings • Beau Geste • The Light that Failed |
| 1940s | Reaching for the Sun • Roxie Hart • The Great Man's Lady • Thunder Birds • Lady of Burlesque • The Ox-Bow Incident • Buffalo Bill • This Man's Navy • The Story of G.I. Joe • Gallant Journey • Magic Town • The Iron Curtain • Yellow Sky • Battleground |
| 1950s | The Next Voice You Hear... • The Happy Years • Across the Wide Missouri • It's a Big Country • Westward the Women • My Man and I • Island in the Sky • The High and the Mighty • Track of the Cat • Blood Alley • Good-bye, My Lady • Darby's Rangers • Lafayette Escadrille |
| Television | Light's Diamond Jubilee (with Alan Handley), Christian Nyby, Roy Rowland, Norman Taurog, King Vidor and Bud Yorkin) (1954) |
ru:Ничего святого (фильм)
