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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD EAN: 0892183074912 Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: Alpha Video Manufacturer: Alpha Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Alpha Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: March 19, 2002 Running Time: 77 minutes Sales Rank: 29722 Studio: Alpha Video Theatrical Release Date: November 25, 1937
Amazon.com essential video: As potent today as it was when released in 1937, this classic screwball satire stars Carole Lombard as Hazel Flagg, the small-town girl who mistakenly believes she's dying of radium poisoning. Sensing a great human interest story that will tug the public's heartstrings and help sell newspapers, exploitative journalist Wally Cook (Fredric March) brings Hazel to New York City and turns her into a media darling. Wally's callous strategy takes a sudden turn when he starts having feelings for the vulnerable Hazel. Filmed in early three-strip Technicolor and scripted by Ben Hecht and James H. Street, this sharp comedy still sizzles with its cynical take on media profiteering, and the matching of Lombard and March is unforgettably entertaining. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A Movie of its era
Nothing Sacred falls into the madcap comedy genre. Carol Lombard is terrific as a woman who thought she was dying and then isn't. The story illustrates some timeless truths -- namely that lies take on a life of their own. The importance of the press dates the film -- the newspaper publisher is all-powerful, sort of a William Randolf Hearst character. The movie raises some moral questions that are relevant today -- when the dying girl isn't going to die, people are actually disappointed. One note that dates the film: The portrayal of African-Americans is stereotypic for the era and may even ... Read More
Rating: - for good clean fun, there's nothing like a wake
Nothing Sacred is considered a screwball comedy; but I'm afraid I have to differ to some degree. I thought the humor was lukewarm although the plot moves along at a good pace. The convincing acting held my attention and the choreography worked well in scenes involving crowds and hotel rooms.
When the movie begins, we meet Wally Cook (Fredric March), a newspaper reporter who has just cost his paper, The Morning Star, some embarrassment with a phony story. Although Wally gets a rotten demotion he soon convinces his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) that he has a sure-fire plan to get ... Read More
Rating: - Carole Lombard is adorable in this screwball slapstick
This is a screwball comedy about a young woman named Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) from a small town of Warsaw, Vermont is supposedly dying of radium poisoning. Wally Cook (Fredric March), a New York newspaper reporter writes a series of stories about her; the readers learn about Hazel and they get caught up with this story. Emotions run high, sympathy flows, and soon Hazel becomes the toast of New York.
When a team of doctors examine Hazel, the truth comes out; she is not dying, the situation becomes a farce, and may cost Wally his job; by this time Hazel is in love with Wally. Therefore ... Read More
Rating: - "Hollywood's Golden Age of Classic Comedies (2006) ... Passport Video"
Passport Video and Koch Entertainment Distribution present "CLASSIC COMEDIES FROM HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE" (Dolby digitally remastered) --- relive the laughter from Hollywood's Golden Age...spanning the early years of comedy ('20s--'40s) --- this collection features signature films from comedy's greatest names...besides that you just discovered the essential collection of classic comedy performances --- this compilation features more hours of the best routines in comedy history than you could shake a stick at...laugh along with your favorite film, scene and actors that keep you coming back for more.
... Read More
Rating: - Lombard Elevates Screwball Comedy From Mundane
"Nothing Sacred" is something of a letdown because it doesn't deliver on it's promising premise. For sure there are any number of chuckles here but nothing that really aches the funnybone. The comedy is played too broadly to have any real resonance. It doesn't really work as a satire on yellow journalism for that same reason. The revelation here is the work of Carol Lombard who plays a smalltown girl who fakes radiation poisoning to parlay it into fame and fortune in the Big Apple. Lombard is a deft comedian who effortlessly straddles the lighter and broader comedic elements of her character and loses ... Read More
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