Excellent but underrated film

Crappy film

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Nothing Sacred" is screwball comedy at its best. It's a wild mix of barbs, witty lines, crazy antics and uproariously funny scenes. It's also a wonderful farce about the press and politics. Its satire mocks the high society of New York, the "hicks" of small town New England, and the false sentimentality of the public.The four lead roles are superb. Carole Lombard is Hazel Flagg and Fredric March is Wally Cook. They play marvelously off one another as the comedy shifts into high gear. Charles Winninger plays small own Dr. Enoch Downer who carries a 20-year grudge against the big city newspaper for cheating him out of a quiz prize. Walter Connolly, another staple of Hollywood's golden age of comedy, is Oliver Stone, publisher of the New York Morning Star newspaper. The supporting cast of more than 90 has many actors who have one to several lines -- all very funny. Some snippets that may seem to have little to do with the story are hilarious. One scene shows a construction worker sitting on a steel girder 60 stories up and reading a newspaper on his lunch break. Another scene of a newspaper front page segues into the street food market, and a vendor wraps a big fish in the paper. Another is a close-up of a chalkboard sign at the market, "Miss Hazel Flagg lunched here to-day." The camera pans out and the sign below the produce reads, "All kinds of cheese and bologna our specialty." Screenwriter Ben Hecht and director William Wellman must have thrown every outlandish thought they had into the film. Some wacky scenarios had me laughing aloud. Wally and Hazel attend a wrestling match in Madison Square Garden. It's the funniest wrestling scene put on film. The wrestlers throw the referee and one another out of the ring, and the ref jumps on one of the wrestlers to help the other guy. It's a riot. Toward the film's end, Wally figures out how to fake Hazel's pneumonia. He has to get her pulse racing and her temperature up, so he eggs her on to fight with him. This hilarious scenario had me in stitches. Carole Lombard shows why she was considered Hollywood's queen of screwball comedy. This is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a movie. The film has more side-splitting scenarios. From start to finish, it is loaded with wackiness. It's one of the best screwball comedies ever made. It's the perfect anecdote to play when one is down or needs to laugh. Here are some samples to wet the whistles of those who haven't yet seen this film. The lines are much funnier with the scenes. Wally, "Well, he's got a different quality of charm. He's sort of a cross between a Ferris wheel and a werewolf. But with a likable streak."Oliver, "Doctor, I want to know the worst. I don't want you to spare our feelings. We go to press in 15 minutes."Hazel, "I don't suppose newspapermen marry, as a rule?" Wally, "Not after they're 14 or 15. That's the dangerous age for the journalist. His ideals are not yet formed and he falls easy prey to elderly waitresses. Once his fine side is born, he waits." Hazel, "For what?" Wally, "For sounds of a fire alarm, Miss Flagg. He waits to go rushing off to the fire." Hazel," What fire's that, Mr. Cook?" Wally, "Love!"Wally, "Stop looking so happy and gallant, will ya? It breaks my heart."Hazel, "Oh, Enoch ... If you were only as honest as you look."Wally, "Oliver thought we could get the president, but he's still fishing. I arranged to have the symphony orchestra there instead."Nightclub emcee, "Show them the finger, babe."Oliver, "I am sitting here, Mr. Cook, trying to figure some way out of the blackest disaster that has ever struck down an innocent man since the days of Judas Iscariot."Oliver, "That's Hazel Flagg. The biggest fake of the century. A lying, faking witch with the soul of an eel and the brain of a tarantula." Wally, "She hasn't' got anything wrong with her at all? Sweet heaven, I can't believe it. It's like some kind of miracle."Oliver, "The whole city is getting ready to laugh at us. A howl that'll be heard around the world. It'll be worse than the French Revolution."Wally, "Oliver's having a catfit. You know, I've been misjudging him. When I told him you were safe and sound, he choked up, and he couldn't talk for a minute."Oliver, "Before I'm finished with that female Dracula, she'll know one thing. That Oliver Stone is worse than radium poisoning." Hazel, "You won't hate me so much if I'm behind bars." Oliver, "Pneumonia? It's a lie, I tell you. Temperature of 106? Dying? Go back and take her temperature again. I don't trust that girl until I get a doctor. No, not Dr. Downer. Tell Mo to throw that Vermont quack out of the room the minute he shows his face."Hazel, "What's the use? Why fight them any longer?" Wally, "Because I love you. Because I'm going to marry you and I don't want to spend my honeymoon hanging around Sing Sing throwing kisses to you in the exercise yard. Oliver, "Pneumonia! It's the finger of God if it's true. It's like a pardon from the gallows."Wally, "Now listen to me, and listen carefully. When you come to …" Hazel, "What do you mean, 'come to?'" Wally, "I mean, when you regain consciousness."Mrs. Cartwright (chief ranger), "Miss Flagg … if you persist in flaunting your recovery in this flagrant manner, the trees of America will be without girlfriends.'Fake disappearance note, "I have gone to face the end alone – like an elephant."

The film had surprisingly very good taste. It incorporated both color picture and black and white into one film but alternated at just the right scenes. The color picture did add to the crazy feel of the film. All the colors were very vibrant, it was just like the plot. The camera sometimes shot from a far which made you feel very distant from the story. Most of the actors were good. It was a very wild feeling while watching it, since the characters were all over the place.The plot was actually pretty organized considering the way it played out. It was just a silly film, there was an actually suspenseful underline to it. Enjoyable and enhancing film!

Nothing Sacred isn't just boring, its aggravating to watch. None of the characters are endearing. I don't mean likable because there can be unlikable yet endearing characters. Characters the movie makes you hate but still want to root for them. Nothing Sacred does not do that. Fredric March is supposedly the best reporter in the city who makes one career ruining mistake. Then in an attempt to redeem himself he then immediately makes the exact same mistake. He rushes into another feel good story without doing any research. Hazel Flagg is meant to be seen as a pitiable girl in over her head but acts like a spoiled child. Dr. Enoch Downer can't make up his mind between being a reluctant participant or complete imbecile. And the movie's message is that newspapers always lie to get a story and readers are foolish and selfish to latch onto sob stories. The worst part of it all is that this screwball comedy just isn't funny. Site gags and clever wit are very rarely seen and even more rarely successful. The final joke of the movie is the doctor waking up and thinking the hotel he is in has sunk underwater because he hasn't realized he's on a boat. That joke belongs in a Looney tunes cartoon. Although hats off to Nothing Sacred for being the first color comedy.

After watching Nothing Sacred, I found it to be quite boring after watching 20 minutes. I couldn't really catch on to it and like it. A few camera shots I really like, like when Hazel and Wally are in the box and Wally asks Hazel to marry him, I really like the tracking/ push in shot. I also found the establishing shots to be very nice also. Carole Lombard was great in My Man Godfrey and she's very good in this film as well. It seems like she plays the character of an over dramatic young female very well. I also found the actor who played the doctor and Wally quite good as well. The plot was kind of clouded for me I couldn't really understand it all too well. You could easily see the screwball comedy aspects in the film though. They stood out quite well.