Nothing Sacred (1937)
A disgraced New York reporter stakes his comeback on a small-town woman diagnosed with fatal radium poisoning, bringing her to the city to be feted as a brave doomed celebrity. The diagnosis turns out to be wrong, she feels fine, and the two must keep up the deathbed pretense as the whole city takes her to heart.
Scripted by Ben Hecht, Nothing Sacred was one of producer David O. Selznick’s rare comedies and one of the few screwball features shot in full Technicolor, with Carole Lombard and Fredric March trading insults and, at one point, punches. Its copyright was not renewed, and it fell into the public domain in 1965.
Background
Nothing Sacred was scripted by Ben Hecht and produced by David O. Selznick as one of the few screwball comedies shot in full three-strip Technicolor, at a time when color was still mostly reserved for prestige dramas and musicals rather than fast-talking comedies. Carole Lombard plays a small-town woman wrongly diagnosed with fatal radium poisoning who is brought to New York by a disgraced reporter angling for his own comeback, and the two must keep up the pretense of her impending death even after doctors discover the diagnosis was a mistake.
What to watch for
Watch for the sharp, cynical edge Hecht brings to the satire of media sensationalism and public sentimentality, delivered with Lombard and Fredric March’s rapid comic chemistry, including a notably physical fight scene between the two leads. Its copyright was not renewed, and the film fell into the public domain in 1965, which is part of why it circulates so freely today despite its prestigious pedigree.
