Kim Novak and Fredric March meet in the “Middle of the Night”

Middle of the Night (1959) is an American drama film directed by Delbert Mann and starring Fredric March and Kim Novak. The supporting cast includes Glenda Farrell, Albert Dekker, Martin Balsam, Lee Philips, and Lee Grant.

Betty Peisser (Novak) a recently divorced and working as a secretary for a clothing manufacturer. Her boss, Jerry Kingsley, a much older widower who lives with his unmarried sister Evelyn (Edith Meiser) listens to Betty’s retelling of her loveless marriage to her ex-husband George (Philips). At first, Jerry’s affection for Betty is fatherly. But as time goes by, the two begin to fall in love.

Will Jerry and Betty make their relationship work despite the backlash from their friends and relatives?

Kim Novak and Fredric March

Delbert Mann (1920 – 2007) was an American television and film director. He won the Best Director Academy Award for his first film, Marty (1955). Other Mann films include The Bachelor Party (1957), Separate Tables (1958), Middle of the Night (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Dear Heart (1964). Mann still worked in television, directing several movies including Heidi (1968), David Copperfield (1969), and Jane Eyre (1970).

Kim Novak (1933 - ) is an American film and television actress. She retired in 1991. Novak was one of the last “studio-created” stars during a time when the studio system was in decline. Born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, her name was changed to Kim after she signed a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures in 1954. By the next year, Novak was a major star working opposite the likes of Frank Sinatra and William Holden. Some of her significant films include Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Pal Joey (1957), and Bell, Book and Candle (1958). Perhaps her most celebrated film is her dual role in Vertigo (1958) co-starring James Stewart and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In 2012, the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound critic’s poll voted Vertigo as the best film of all time. After retiring from film, Novak has devoted herself to painting and has exhibited her work publicly.

Fredric March (1897 - 1975) was an American actor and two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner. Also a famous stage actor, March won two Tony Awards as well and is one of a few actors to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was an immediate success in films receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1930. He won his first Best Actor Oscar for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and second for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). During the 1930s and 1940s, March was a popular leading man starring opposite Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. March continued acting on stage and in films until 1973, two years before his death from cancer.

 

Lee Grant and Kim Novak

Middle of the Night trivia

• Kim Novak considered this her best performance.
• Edward G. Robinson played March’s role on Broadway. Gena Rowlands had the Novak role on stage opposite Robinson.
• James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, and James Cagney were all considered for the role of Jerry Kingsley.
• Jean Simmons was considered for the role of Betty.

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the online discussion on January 13, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Did you find the relationship between Novak and March believable?
2. Do you think May-December relationships can be successful in real life?
3. Was the chemistry between Novak and March believable?
4. Did you find the ending satisfying?

"The Best Years of Our Lives" is the Best Picture of 1946

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is an American drama directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo. The screenplay was written by Robert E. Sherwood, based on a novella, Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor. The cinematography was by Greg Toland.

The plot of the movie concerns three United States servicemen returning home after World War II and the struggle they have re-adjusting to civilian life. The movie is almost a time capsule of what life was like after the war and the changes it brought to American society. Apart from winning the Best Picture Academy Award, it was the top-grossing film of the year and the top-grossing film of the decade. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top 100 grossing films in the United States.

The movie lobby card downplays the seriousness of the film.

William Wyler (1902 - 1981) was an American (born in Mulhouse, Alsace, then part of Germany) film director and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Direction three times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). Wyler was nominated 12 times for Best Director, an Academy Awards history record. Wyler started working in the movie business during the silent era, eventually making a name for himself as a director in the early 1930s. He would go on to direct Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Actress Bette Davis received three Oscar nominations under Wyler’s direction, winning her second Oscar for her performance in Jezebel (1938). Other popular films directed by Wyler include The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1954), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), and Funny Girl 1968).

Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993) was an American film, television, and stage actress. Loy was a trained dancer but decided to concentrate on acting, appearing in silent films before becoming a major star with the advent of sound. Perhaps Loy is most famous for playing Nora Charles opposite William Powell in The Thin Man (1934) and its subsequent sequels. Loy and Powell were one of the screen’s most popular acting teams; they appeared in 14 films together. Loy starred opposite the top leading men of the day including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power, and Cary Grant. Some of her films include Wife vs. Secretary (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Test Pilot (1938), Too Hot to Handle (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Love Crazy  (1941), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Film character: Milly Stephenson.

Fredric March (1897 - 1975) was an American actor and two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner. Also a famous stage actor, March won two Tony Awards as well and is one of a few actors to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was an immediate success in films receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1930. He won his first Best Actor Oscar for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and his second for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). During the 1930s and 1940s, March was a popular leading man starring opposite Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. March continued acting on stage and in films until 1973, two years before his death from cancer. Film character: Al Stephenson.

Actor Dana Andrews (standing) refuses to serve cinematographer Greg Toland (left) and director William Wyler (right) on the set.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda; so popular was Andrews during the 1940s that he was billed above Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Film character: Fred Derry.

Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews in a crucial scene from
The Best Years of Our Lives

Teresa Wright (1918 - 2005) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations in her first three films, a record that still holds today. In 1942, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Mrs. Miniver and for Best Actress in The Pride of the Yankees. She won the Supporting Oscar for Mrs. Miniver, and her co-star, Greer Garson won Best Actress. Today Wright is most famous for playing Lou Gehrig’s wife in The Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Wright was a popular star throughout the 1940s starring opposite Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Gary Cooper, and David Niven. She starred opposite Marlon Brando in his first film role in The Men (1950). Wright continued working in film, with her last role as Miss Birdie in The Rainmaker (1997). Wright is the only non-baseball player to be honored by the New York Yankees when she passed away at age 86. Film character: Peggy Stephenson.

Virginia Mayo (1920 - 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She made a series of popular films with Danny Kaye while under contract to Samuel Goldwyn which made her a star. In the late 1940s, Warner Bros. bought her contract from Goldwyn and she became one of the studio’s top box office attractions. At Warners, Mayo made a variety of films including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She co-starred with James Cagney in White Heat (1949), The Flame and the Arrow (1950) opposite Burt Lancaster, Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. co-starring Gregory Peck (1951), the studio’s biggest hit of the year. After her film career ended, Mayo guest-starred on much popular television series including Remington Steele, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote. Film character: Marie Derry.

Harold Russell (1914 - 2002) was a Canadian-born American World War II veteran. Russell lost both hands in a training accident when a defective fuse detonated the explosives he was handling. He was given two hooks to serve as hands and he was featured in an Army rehabilitation film, Diary of a Sergeant. This film brought Russell to the attention of director Wyler who cast him in the film. Russell won two Academy Awards. He won an honorary award for bringing hope and courage to veterans and he also won the Best Supporting Actor award, something he was not predicted to win. Russell remains one of only two non-professional actors to win Academy Awards. Haing S. Ngor won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in The Killing Field (1985). Film character: Homer Parrish.

Cathy O’Donnell (1923 - 1970) was an American actress best known for her roles in The Best Years of Our Lives, They Live by Night (1948), and Ben-Hur (1959) where she played Tirzah, the sister of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston). She appeared on the small screen on Perry Mason and Bonanza. She was married to director Wyler’s older brother Robert. She passed away after a long illness on her 22nd wedding anniversary. Film character: Wilma Cameron.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

The Best Years of Our Lives trivia:

• The fictional Boone City was modeled after Cincinnati, Ohio.
• William Wyler hated the score by Hugo Friedhofer; it won the Oscar that year for the best film score.
• Myrna Loy was only 13 years older than Teresa Wright who played her daughter.
• The film includes four Oscar winners: Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Hoagy Carmichael (Uncle Butch), and Harold Russell.
• Future director Blake Edwards has an uncredited part as a Corporal and actor Sean Penn’s father, Leo, played a soldier working as a scheduling clerk at the beginning of the film.

To join the discussion on August 29, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you'll receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Questions for discussion:

1. The film is a product of its time. Does it still have meaning for us today in 2022?
2. What if anything surprised you about the film?
3. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue that stood out to you?
4. Would you recommend this film to a friend to watch?
5. How do you think the acting holds up? Are the performances true to life?
6. Do you think the film had an anti-war message?
7. Why do you think this film resonated with audiences in 1946?

Fredric March and Veronic Lake in Rene Clair’s “I Married a Witch”

I Married a Witch (1942) is a romantic comedy fantasy directed by Rene Clair and starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake. The cinematography is by Ted Tetzlaff, music by Roy Webb, and costumes by Edith Head.

The plot concerns two witches in colonial Salem, Jennifer (Lake) and her father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway) burned at the stake because of the testimony of Puritan Jonathan Wooley. 

Their spirits, imprisoned by a tree, are released when the tree is struck by lightning. Vowing revenge on Wallace Wooley (March), a descendent of Jonathan Wooley, who is running for governor and engaged to Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward), the spoiled daughter of Dr. Dudley White (Robert Benchley) a friend and political supporter of Wallace, Jennifer comes up with a devious plot to destroy him.

Through a strange twist of fate, Jennifer’s affections change toward Wooley, much to the dismay of her father who is determined to seek revenge.

Will Jennifer have the strength to defy her father and let love triumph over witchcraft?

Veronica Lake and Fredric March

Rene Clair (1898 - 1981) was a French film director and writer. He directed silent films in his native France, but was lured to Hollywood where he directed five films. His first American film was The Flame of New Orleans (1941) starring Marlene Dietrich. The film was not a success and it would be a year before he made another American film. His most popular American film was And Then There Were None (1945) based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name. After World War II, Clair returned to France where he was considered one of the that country’s best film directors.

Fredric March (1897 - 1975) was an American actor and two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner. Also a famous stage actor, March won two Tony Awards as well and is one of a few actors to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was an immediate success in films receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1930. He won his first Best Actor Oscar for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and his second for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). During the 1930s and 1940s, March was a popular leading man starring opposite Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. March continued acting on stage and in films until 1973, two years before his death from cancer.

Veronica Lake (1922 - 1973) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was a popular star of film noirs, often paired with Alan Ladd in the 1940s. She was also famous for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Her home studio, Paramount, dubbed her the peek-a-boo girl. Women and girls all over the world copied her hair-over-one-eye hairstyle. Lake became an overnight sensation with her role in I Wanted Wings (1940). During the height of her career, Lake was making $4,500 a week. Some of her popular films include Sullivan’s Travels (1941),  This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), So Proudly We Hail! (1943), and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Lake’s career declined due to her struggle with alcoholism. She died from cirrhosis of the liver in 1973. She was 50 years old.

I Married a Witch trivia:

• Veronica Lake and Fredric March did not get along at all during filming. Before production, March said that Lake was “a brainless little blonde sexpot, void of any acting ability.” Lake got back at him by playing practical jokes like hiding a 40-pound weight under her dress for a scene where March had to carry her.
• Sol Saks, creator of Bewitch considered this film as inspiration for the classic television series.
• Veronica Lake and costar Susan Hayward, were both born in Brooklyn.
• Preston Sturges was the original producer but quit the film over differences with Rene Clair.
• The film was made at Paramount and sold to United Artists.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

Why watch this film?

• It is one of the few American films directed by Rene Clair.
• The supporting cast boasts some of the best actors working in Hollywood at the time.
• Veronica Lake was a national sensation due to her cool persona and peek-a-boo hairstyle.
• Although Lake and Fredric March didn’t like each other, you would never know it do to their believable performances on screen.
• This film influence other fantasy films to come including Bell, Book, and Candle (1958).

To join the discussion on October 11, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions:

1. Do you think the film would have been the same had the director been American?
2. Did you think that Lake was untalented as Fredric March supposedly said?
3. What was your favorite scene, piece of dialogue, and so on, from the film?
4. Did you have a favorite character?
5. Did anything about the film surprise you?

Girls at a military academy dance trying to look like Veronica Lake in
director Billy Wilder’s film The Major and the Minor

’

Best Picture of 1946: "The Best Years of Our Lives"

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is an American drama directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo. The screenplay was written by Robert E. Sherwood, based on a novella, Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor. The cinematography was by Greg Toland.

The plot of the movie concerns three United States servicemen returning home after World War II and the struggle they have re-adjusting to civilian life. The movie is almost a time capsule of what life was like after the war and the changes it brought to American society. Apart from winning the Best Picture Academy Award, it was the top-grossing film of the year and the top-grossing film of the decade. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top 100 grossing films in the United States.

The movie poster downplays the seriousness of the film.

William Wyler (1902 - 1981) was an American (born in Mulhouse, Alsace, then part of Germany) film director and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Direction three times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). Wyler was nominated 12 times for Best Director, an Academy Awards history record. Wyler started working in the movie business during the silent era, eventually making a name for himself as a director in the early 1930s. He would go on to direct Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Actress Bette Davis received three Oscar nominations under Wyler’s direction, winning her second Oscar for her performance in Jezebel (1938). Other popular films directed by Wyler include The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1954), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), and Funny Girl 1968).

Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993) was an American film, television, and stage actress. Loy was a trained dancer but decided to concentrate on acting, appearing in silent films before becoming a major star with the advent of sound. Perhaps Loy is most famous for playing Nora Charles opposite William Powell in The Thin Man (1934) and its subsequent sequels. Loy and Powell were one of the screen’s most popular acting teams; they appeared in 14 films together. Loy starred opposite the top leading men of the day including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power, and Cary Grant. Some of her films include Wife vs. Secretary (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Test Pilot (1938), Too Hot to Handle (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Love Crazy  (1941), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Film character: Milly Stephenson.

Myrna Loy (left), Fredric March, and Teresa Wright

Fredric March (1897 - 1975) was an American actor and two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner. Also a famous stage actor, March won two Tony Awards as well and is one of a few actors to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was an immediate success in films receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1930. He won his first Best Actor Oscar for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and his second for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). During the 1930s and 1940s, March was a popular leading man starring opposite Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. March continued acting on stage and in films until 1973, two years before his death from cancer. Film character: Al Stephenson.

Actor Dana Andrews (standing) refuses to serve cinematographer Greg Toland (left) and director William Wyler (right) on the set.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda; so popular was Andrews during the 1940s that he was billed above Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Film character: Fred Derry.

Teresa Wright (1918 - 2005) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations in her first three films, a record that still holds today. In 1942, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Mrs. Miniver and for Best Actress in The Pride of the Yankees. She won the Supporting Oscar for Mrs. Miniver, her co-star, Greer Garson won Best Actress. Today Wright is most famous for playing Lou Gehrig’s wife in The Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Wright was a popular star throughout the 1940s starring opposite Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Gary Cooper, and David Niven. She starred opposite Marlon Brando in his first film role in The Men (1950). Wright continued working in film, with her last role as Miss Birdie in The Rainmaker (1997). Wright is the only non-baseball player to be honored by the New York Yankees when she passed away at age 86. Film character: Peggy Stephenson.

Virginia Mayo (1920 - 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She made a series of popular films with Danny Kaye while under contract to Samuel Goldwyn which made her a star. In the late 1940s, Warner Bros. bought her contract from Goldwyn and she became one of the studio’s top box office attractions. At Warners, Mayo made a variety of films including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She co-starred with James Cagney in White Heat (1949), The Flame and the Arrow (1950) opposite Burt Lancaster, Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. co-starring Gregory Peck (1951), the studio’s biggest hit of the year. After her film career ended, Mayo guest-starred on many popular television series including Remington Steele, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote. Film character: Marie Derry.

Harold Russell (1914 - 2002) was a Canadian-born American World War II veteran. Russell lost both hands in a training accident when a defective fuse detonated the explosives he was handling. He was given two hooks to serve as hands and he was featured in an Army rehabilitation film, Diary of a Sergeant. This film brought Russell to the attention of director Wyler who cast him in the film. Russell won two Academy Awards. He won an honorary award for bringing hope and courage to veterans and he also won the Best Supporting Actor award, something he was not predicted to win. Russell remains one of only two non-professional actors to win Academy Awards. Haing S. Ngor won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in The Killing Field (1985). Film character: Homer Parrish.

Cathy O’Donnell (1923 - 1970) was an American actress best known for her roles in The Best Years of Our Lives, They Live by Night (1948), and Ben-Hur (1959) where she played Tirzah, the sister of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston). She appeared on the small screen on Perry Mason and Bonanza. She was married to director Wyler’s older brother Robert. She passed away after a long illness on her 22nd wedding anniversary. Film character: Wilma Cameron.

The Best Years of Our Lives trivia:

• The fictional Boone City was modeled after Cincinnati, Ohio.
• William Wyler hated the score by Hugo Friedhofer; it won the Oscar that year for the best film score.
• Myrna Loy was only 13 years older than Teresa Wright who played her daughter.
• The film includes four Oscar winners: Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Hoagy Carmichael (Uncle Butch), and Harold Russell.
• Future director Blake Edwards has an uncredited part as a Corporal and actor Sean Penn’s father, Leo, played a soldier working as a scheduling clerk at the beginning of the film.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

Questions for discussion:

1. The film is a product of its time. Does it still have meaning for us today in 2021?
2. What if anything surprised you about the film?
3. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue that stood out to you?
4. Would you recommend this film to a friend to watch?
5. How do you think the acting holds up? Are the performances true to life?
6. Do you think the film had an anti-war message?
7. Why do you think this film resonated with audiences in 1946?

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?

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.