Carole Lombard and Fredric March star in “Nothing Sacred”

Nothing Sacred (1937) is a screwball comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht. Oscar Levant wrote the original music score.

New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (March) was demoted to writing obituaries due to a scandal involving a phony African nobleman and a charity event in the nobleman’s honor. Wally begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for a second chance.

Wally points out a story about Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a young woman dying of radium poisoning. Wally convinces his boss that a story on the dying girl could boost the circulation of his paper the Morning Star. Wally is off to the fictional town of Warsaw, Vermont in pursuit of Hazel Flagg and her story. Wally meets Hazel and he invites her and her doctor to New York as guests of the paper. Unknown to Wally is the fact that Hazel isn’t dying of radium poisoning and that her original diagnosis was a mistake. Hazel anxious to leave the sleepy town of Warsaw for a trip to New York doesn’t let on that she’s not dying.

Will Hazel’s secret be found out and will Wally be sent back to writing obituaries once again?

William A. Wellman (1896 – 1975) got his start in the movies as an actor but decided he’d rather work behind the camera as a director. He directed his first picture in 1920. Seven years later, Wellman directed the World War I epic Wings. His other notable films in the sound era include The Public Enemy (1931), A Star Is Born (1937), Beau Geste (1939), and The Ox-Box Incident (1943).

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was an American film actress best know for starring in a string of screwball comedies. So popular was she in the genre that Life magazine dubbed her “the screwball girl.” Lombard began her career in silent films, but her career was stalled when she was in a car accident that scarred her face. After the accident, she was dropped from her Fox Film Corporation contract. She underwent plastic surgery, which was relatively new at the time, hoping it would help jumpstart her career. The surgery was a success resulting in a minor scar that was hardly noticeable on screen. She made almost 40 films before her breakout role as Lily Garland opposite John Barrymore in Twentieth Century. Now a bona fide star, Lombard would be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood by the late 1930s. Lombard was Oscar-nominated for My Man Godfrey (1936) and starred in Alfred Hitchock’s only screwball comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In 1939, Lombard married Clark Gable and the two were the most famous couple in Hollywood. Lombard died tragically in a plane crash on January 16, 1942. She was 33 years old. Her final film was the Ernst Lubitsch comedy To Be or Not to Be (1942) which was released after her death.

Frederic March (1897 – 1975) was an American actor of both stage and film. He started his career as an extra in silent movies and by 1926 he appeared on Broadway and by the end of the decade, he was in Hollywood. March was one of the most successful actors working in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) a role for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, Design for Living (1933), Les Miserbles (1935), Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo, and A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor. In the 1940s, March starred in I Married a Witch (1942) and The Best Years of Our Lives, which brought him his second Best Actor Oscar. March was also a major star on Broadway. He won Tony Awards for Best Actor for his performances in Years Ago (1947) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956).

Nothing Sacred is a who’s who of 1930s character actors including Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly, Sig Ruman, John Qualen, Hattie McDaniel, and Margaret Hamilton.

Nothing Sacred has a creative title sequence.

Nothing Sacred trivia:

• This was the first screwball comedy filmed in Technicolor and Lombard’s only color film. 
• Frank Fay who plays the master of ceremonies in the film was Barbara Stanwyck’s first husband. His film career was basically over at the time of the film’s release, but he went on to Broadway fame as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey (1944).
• The film was not a hit upon its release and recorded a loss of $400,000 at the box office.
• Lombard starred in True Confession (1937) with Fred MacMurray, the same year as Nothing Sacred. True Confession, almost forgotten today, was a huge box office success.

For more information on True Confession, which also starred John Barrymore, click here.

Fred MacMurray, Carole Lombard, and John Barrymore in True Confession

To watch the film, click on the YouTube link below. Please use this link because there are other versions that are on the channel that isn’t as good.



After you’ve watched the film, join us for a discussion on Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on August 11, 2020. The links for the Zoom meeting are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Nothing Sacred"
Time: Aug 11, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74847286053?pwd=aFdsaElXcEdqcmZHVGthMTE0aUJyUT09

Meeting ID: 748 4728 6053
Passcode: ck2W1Q


Questions for discussion:
1. Were you surprised to see such an old film in color? Did color add anything to the narrative?
2. What did you think of Carole Lombard’s performance?
3. What did you make of the town of Warsaw? Did you understand why Hazel wanted to leave it?
4. Was Frederic March convincing as a newspaperman?
5. Was there a message or meaning behind the comedy? If yes, what was the message?

Carole Lombard and Una Merkel in "True Confession": Inspiration for "I Love Lucy?"

I Love Lucy was a landmark in television history. The original series ran for six years on CBS and for four of those years was the top-rated TV show in the country. One of the dynamics that made the show work so well was the relationship between Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and her neighbor and best friend Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). Lucy was always getting into trouble and Ethel, trying to help her friend, always seemed to get caught up in Lucy’s crazy schemes. These schemes usually centered on Lucy’s attempts to break into show business and trying to establish a career of her own, much to the dismay of her husband Ricky.

Similar sitcom scenarios are played out today, but it was all new during TV’s Golden Age. Did you ever wonder where Ball got her major inspiration? It’s no secret that Ball adored Carole Lombard. Lombard was sort of a mentor to Ball when both were working at the RKO studio. Lombard was one of the few truly beautiful movie stars who wasn’t afraid to be silly on screen. She also wasn’t concerned about making faces, which took away from her glamour. Lombard was adored by the public and was glamorous enough to snag the “King” of Hollywood, Clark Gable.

Publicity shot of Carole Lombard

During the mid-to-late 1930s, Lombard was America’s “screwball girl.” She made her mark with classic comedies like Hands Across the Table (1935), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Nothing Sacred (1937). One comedy that was a huge hit in 1937, but isn’t well remember today is True Confession. The film, directed by Welsley Ruggles also stars Fred MacMurray, Una Merkel, and John Barrymore. Lombard plays Helen Bartlett a housewife and aspiring fiction writer. Helen is a habitual storyteller; she is often fast and loose with the truth—just like Lucy. Helen bangs out short stories on her portable typewriter at home while her husband Ken (MacMurray) tries to establish his fledgling law practice. He has a problem: he’s only interested in taking on clients that are truthful and innocent. He is the complete opposite of Helen. Ken’s refusal to take on “guilty” clients causes friction between the young couple struggling to make ends meet. Helen writes stories in an attempt to help with the family finances, which Ken resents.When Helen is conjuring up a lie, her tongue is planted firmly in her cheek and you can see the wheels turning in her head—shades of Lucy.

Lombard and Una Merkel in a jam

Helen’s best friend, Daisy McClure (Merkel) knows Helen is a liar, but she still manages to get tangled up in whatever crazy caper Helen finds herself in the midst of. When Lombard and Merkel’s characters interact with each other, it’s hard not to think of Lucy and Ethel. The dynamic is amazingly similar and their on-screen chemistry is genuinely appealing—just like Ball’s and Vance’s. And just like Ball and Vance, both women are attractive, but Lombard is the more glamorous of the two with Merkel never outshining her costar.

When Helen applies for a private secretary position at an incredibly generous salary, the wiser Daisy, smells a rat. Helen’s boss Otto Krayler (John T. Murray) really doesn’t want a secretary, but rather a playmate. On her very fist day on the job, Krayler makes a pass at Helen and she quits in a huff. Later she realizes that she left her hat and coat at Krayler’s lavish apartment. When she and Daisy go to retrieve them, the two discover that Krayler has been murdered and that according to detective Darsey (Edgar Kennedy) Helen is the prime suspect.

Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball in trouble

As goofy as Helen’s character is, she has some genuine qualities. She truly loves her husband, even if her lying ways often work against their relationship. As a way to get her husband some favorable publicity as a lawyer and to avoid telling him that she took a job behind his back, Helen confesses to killing Krayler in self-defense, which isn’t true. Helen believes that if her husband successfully defends her, his career will be set—sounds like a plan Lucy might dream up.

Helen has lied so many times to Ken that at this point it’s harder for her to tell the truth. In jail, Lombard is dressed in a simple black outfit. With the blouse’s large white collar and her hair combed back, she looks like Greta Garbo in Queen Christina. Lombard did a beautifully funny imitation of a Garbo-like character a year earlier in The Princess Comes Across.

Daisy, always the loyal friend—Ethel all the way—goes to Helen’s trial that is also attended by an odd man named Charley Jasper (Barrymore) who thinks Helen is innocent, but keeps this to himself. He is generally obnoxious, resorting to blowing up balloons then letting the air out slowly, disrupting the court proceedings.

Coming up with another scheme

Ken manages to successfully defend Helen—with some hysterical courtroom acting—and she is a free woman. With all the publicity generated at the trial, Helen is now a celebrity on the lecture circuit and has a best-selling autobiography (My Life, My Struggle). Daisy now works with Helen as private secretary and story collaborator. Ken has a thriving law career and the two seem to have everything, but the truth stands in the way of their happiness. Because of Helen’s habitual lying—with the ultimate lie pretending to be a murderer—their marriage isn’t what it should be.

Ball wasn't afraid to look silly.

Just when you think things couldn’t get any more complicated, Charley Jasper shows up with Krayler’s wallet and blackmail on his mind. Ken comes to the rescue, but the “truth” about Helen is revealed and Ken has had enough. At their new lake house, where Ken and Helen now have a maid, (Hattie McDaniel), Helen and Daisy walk along the lake in the late afternoon. Helen reflects on the mess she’s made of her life, even though she has the money and success she’s always craved. Afraid she’s going to lose her husband, Helen comes up with one more lie that seems to keep the marriage together. The movie ends with Ken throwing Helen over his shoulder and you’re left wondering what new caper (lie) she’ll dream up next—just like Lucy!

True Confession was popular with the critics of the day and a huge box office hit. It was the fourth and final collaboration between Lombard and MacMurray who had earlier starred together in Hands Across The Table (1935), The Princess Comes Across, (1936) and Swing High, Swing Low, Paramount’s top grossing film of 1937. Nothing Sacred, released the same year as True Confession, and considered a classic today wasn’t nearly as commercially successful. Both films were released on Thanksgiving Day, 1937.

Fred MacMurray, Lombard, and John Barrymore in publicity photo for True Confession

Backstory: Lombard was responsible for casting John Barrymore in the supporting role of Charley Jasper. At this point in his career, producers were reluctant to hire him due to his alcoholism and his refusal to memorize his lines (he read them from cue cards). But Lombard never forgot her big break in Twentieth Century, a film in which Barrymore was the top-billed star. She learned a lot from Barrymore during that production and she was forever grateful. She even gave him star billing alongside herself and MacMurray. Lombard was a true and faithful friend.

From star to superstar: Carole Lombard Breaks Out

If 1936 was a watershed year for Carole Lombard, 1937 wasn't too bad either. Lombard starred in three films released in 1937, all of which were critical and box office successes. Swing High, Swing Low was the highest grossing film for Paramount Studios in 1937 as well as being one of the biggest box office hits of the year.

Lombard and MacMurray: Together again
Swing High, Swing Low was directed by Mitchell Leisen and costarred Lombard, once again, with Fred MacMurray. Not well regarded today because it seems to be one part screwball comedy, one part melodrama, and one part musical. What seemed innovative and inventive when first released seems a bit muddled and confusing to modern viewers. Frank S. Nugent in the New York Times wrote, "Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray skip through the formula devices of "Swing High, Swing Low" (nee "Burlesque") with their usual ease at the Paramount, raising a routine story to a routine-plus picture. The plus is extremely small, sometimes being almost invisible." Nugent ended his review by stating, "Its players really are worthy of better treatment." Still it has its moments and the Lombard/MacMurray chemistry delighted film-going audiences and most other contemporary film critics.

Lombard's next film for 1937 would be the much-heralded Nothing Sacred, costarring Fredric March with a script by Ben Hecht and direction by William A. Wellman. Produced by David O. Selznick, the film was given the A-treatment. Selznick spared no expense when it came to the film's production, including filming it in Technicolor, still a rare event in the late 1930s, especially for comedies. Nothing Sacred has the distinction of being the only color film Lombard ever made. The story goes that some people went to see the film just to get a glimpse of Lombard's beauty in color and they weren't disappointed: she looks luminous.

She's the top

One of the ironies of Lombard's career is how quickly she began to eclipse the stars that she used to support. In 1934, Lombard appeared with Fredric March in The Eagle and the Hawk, a film in which he received top billing. In less than three year's time, Lombard was the bigger star when they made Nothing Sacred, with her name above March's. Cary Grant, who also starred in The Eagle and the Hawk, billed above Lombard, but below March, would be billed under Lombard in In Name Only, released in 1939. In a relatively short period, Lombard was becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Liar, liar
Lombard's last release of 1937 was True Confession,  with MacMurray and John Barrymore, her costar (again she's the bigger star now) from her breakthrough film, Twentieth Century. True Confession stars Lombard as a struggling fiction writer and habitual liar. MacMurray, her husband, is a straight-arrow lawyer who will only defend people he knows aren't guilty. Since they're both working hard to make ends meet, Lombard just doesn't understand how her husband can be so choosy about who he represents. To help out with the finances, Lombard secretly takes a job that doesn't require any skills, but pays a remarkable $50 for not even a full week's work! It doesn't take long for Lombard to realize that the job is mistress to the boss. Being an honorable, if a bit daffy wife, she quits almost immediately. When her boss ends up dead, with Lombard implicated in his murder, she concocts a story that helps get her acquitted of the murder and generates publicity to further her husband's law career.

True Confession was directed by Wesley Ruggles, who directed Lombard in No Man of Her Own. Ruggles was an early champion of Lombard's, considering her an actress of great depth and potential. Unfortunately for Lombard, Ruggles didn't run the the star factory at Paramount, where she was under contract, or her star might have risen sooner.

With three hit films, both commercially and critically, it seemed as if anything Lombard touched would turn to gold. Her relationship with Clark Gable was blossoming and her film career was approaching its zenith. But for Lombard, there were still more things she wanted to accomplish as a star and as an actress. The next few years would test her talent, resolve, and resiliency.