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Bookmark this pageNothing Sacred (1937)
Director: William Wellman
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Irresistible performance from Lombard as the small town girl, supposedly dying of radium poisoning but well aware that she isn't, who determines to grab all she can get when a newspaper brings her to New York for a last fling as a publicity stunt. Ben Hecht's sparkling script occasionally loses its way between the satire and the screwball romance, but is even more caustic about newspapermen than The Front Page ('The hand of God reaching down into the mire couldn't elevate one of 'em to the depths of degradation'), and provides a welcome antidote to Capracorn in its view of small towns as hellholes to be got out of where an intruder is likely to be stoned or bitten by small boys. Some marvellous digs at the morbid sentimentality of the crowd, too, in particular a scene where a wrestling match is held up for ten seconds in tribute to the doomed girl while the bell solemnly tolls ten times. Quite attractively shot in colour, although prints tend to be suffused by an unpleasant pinkish wash.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: William Wellman
Producer: David O Selznick
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly, Sig Ruman, Maxie Rosenbloom, Frank Fay full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 75 mins
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