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Nothing SacredRating:
Release Date: 19 March, 2002 Retail Price: $7.98 OUR Price: $7.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (7 total) |
Nothing Sacred Reviews
Very winning comedy
Carol Lombard's comic genius truly makes this picture a winner. It was probably all filmed in Hollywood, save for the airplane exterior sequences over the real NYC, but it comes off enough like the Big Apple to seem authentic.
The Magic of Carole Lombard
This film classic takes cynicism to new heights in fun fashion as Carole Lombard gives a truly wonderful performance as a girl from a small town in Vermont who becomes the toast of New York thanks to jaded reporter Fredric March, and a bad medical diagnosis from her pal Charles Winninger. David O. Selznick produced and William A. Wellman directed what is not only a screen classic, but one of the finest moments in Carole Lombard's career.
Ben Hecht wrote the screenplay from a story by James H. Street and it is both a funny and cynical take on the newspaper business and the American public. Oscar Levant wrote the score and Raymond Scott and his Quintett add some swing music. Fredric March and Carole Lombard have a chemistry that makes this one a lot of fun.
Fredrick March is Wally Cook, a star reporter for the "New York Morning Star" who is demoted to the obituary page when his paper is taken for a free ride by a man passing himself off as a Sultan. When he turns out to be only a bootblack, Cook feels the heat from his boss, Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly). Connolly is fine as the editor with egg on his face. Stone has a heart, but only if you're willing to blast for it!
Wally sees a chance to get back in Oliver's good graces when he spots a short story about a young girl from the small town of Warsaw, Vermont, who has been diagnosed with radium poisoning and has only a short time to live. He heads for Warsaw to bring back, and exploit, Hazel Flagg, cut down in her prime.
Carole Lombard, of course, is Hazel Flagg. The reason Hazel is crying isn't because she's dying, but rather because Dr. Enoch Downer (Charles Winninger) has just told Hazel he made a mistake and she's going to have to remain in Warsaw after all. Hazel was going to use the 200 dollars you get from dying in Warsaw to see the world, and get out of the small town. Winninger is a hoot as the doctor who drinks his poison out of a black jug and is still upset with not winning an essay contest in Wally's paper.
When Wally shows up and wants to take Hazel back to New York, she sees her chance to get out, and talks her friend Enoch into going with her under the ruse that she really is dying. As she tells Enoch: "It's startling to be brought to life twice, and each time in Warsaw!" Once they travel by plane to New York, which is a new experience for both Hazel and Enoch, the real fun begins.
Lombard is sweet and adorable as Hazel lives it up as though she were really dying and in the process, thanks to a series of stories by Wally, becomes the toast of New York. Wally begins to feel bad, however, and finds himself falling for Hazel. There is a romantic scene as they go sailing and Lombard is lovely here. Hazel is beginning to fall for Wally as well, and is starting to feel bad about the charade.
Lombard is hilarious as she gets plastered at a casino and passes out before the devoted crowd. The cynicism of Ben Hecht's script really shines as Oliver, standing over Hazel, inquires from Wally about her condition: "Don't spare my feelings. We go to press in 15 minutes." There are many such moments contrasted against the sweetness of Hazel Flagg.
Once a team of real doctors are brought in to examine Hazel, the gig is up. Hazel loves Wally and decides to fake her suicide with Enoch's help in order to save his career. Wally doesn't care that it was all fake, however, and in a rush to save her, ends up knocking her in the river where he almost drowns himself, because he can't swim. Lombard in a fireman's hat and wet clothes will leave no doubt that she was one of the screen's most beautiful actresses, as well as one of its finest comedians.
There is a hilarious fight scene between Wally and Hazel as he tries to give her symptoms of pnemonia that has a romantic glow despite the cynicism involved. The only way to make things work for both Hazel and the paper, however, is for her to go away alone to die. Wally may have to leave also if he wants to join her on the cruise to "death" she's taking with Enoch.
This was a film originally in early technicolor. Prints vary as to color quality, the Kino version being the best I've seen. All are watchable, however, and this film is just as wonderful, perhaps even more so, if you turn off the color and simply watch it in glorious black and white. Lombard would give her life for her country on an Indiana war bond tour and this film is a shining example of the magic she left behind. You do not want to miss it.
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