Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Reviews
Product Description
Classic screwball comedy. When Wally Cook (Fredric March), an ambitious reporter on a sensation-seeking New York tabloid, hears of Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a smalltown woman who has been diagnosed as having radium poisoning, he thinks he has happened across a great sob story. However, by the time he reaches her, the doctor has changed his diagnosis - Hazel isn't dying after all. Unaware of this latest development, Wally convinces her to return to New York with him as a special guest of his paper. She agrees and much mayhem ensues. Scripted by Ben Hecht, 'Nothing Sacred' joins Hecht's own 'The Front Page' as one of the great satires on newspaper journalism.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
William Wellman’s direction may indulge itself in his passion for obscuring his leading characters faces during selected dialog scenes, but the characters in Nothing Sacred have a lot to hide their faces about. The greatest and most vicious of Thirties screwball comedies, Ben Hecht’s script makes his work with Charles MacArthur on The Front Page look like a glowing portrait of the honesty and integrity of the press. Everyone here is a cheat or a fraud, and all their motives are selfish – even the entire city of New York gets it in the kisser for taking Carole Lombard’s supposedly terminally ill small-town girl to their collective heart just so they can feel good about themselves. Although there’s something like a sentimental core, it gleefully demolishes every cliché of the day, while its vision of smalltown America is a world away from Capra-corn, a hellhole where you have to pay people to talk to you and where small children bite your legs like mad dogs that any sane individual would lie, cheat and steal to get the hell out of. And how can you resist a film that describes Walter Connolly’s irascible newspaper editor Oliver Stone (yes, Oliver Stone!) as “a sort of cross between a werewolf and a Ferris wheel, but with a loveable streak – if you’re prepared to blast for it.” It doesn’t really have an ending, but it has so much fun getting there you really won’t mind.
So why four stars instead of five? Well, the picture quality is why. Although the BBC have a decent print, none of the current DVD copies are great - partially because of the limitations of the early colour system used, partially because they're derived from public domain prints rather than original negative material. Of those available, the Hollywood Classics issue is the best to date, even including a well-worn copy of the trailer: not a great transfer, but acceptable.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Michael Bo
Format:DVD
For some reason 'Nothing Sacred' does not count as one of the greatest comedies ever. But it is, nevertheless. The script is about a young provincial girl maintaining that she is dying of cancer to continue enjoying being the center of unprecedented attention in chic New York and being a tabloid celebrity. The sarcasm is wry and biting, and the dialogue is unsurpassed in any movie of this or any other period. Carole Lombard shines and thrills in the movie's centre, and Fredric March delivers a multi-layered performance as the reporter who starts out milking the Hazel weep story for all it is worth, and ends up falling in love with her. This movie is so utterly bitchy, so uncompromisingly, scathingly aware of collective hypocrisy that one is almost ashamed at the same time one catches oneself laughing out loud. It is quite unforgettable.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Rama Rao
Format:DVD
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 instead of hurting his career, she decides to fake her suicide by drowning during a cruise trip. Wally rush to save her but only to be saved by Hazel, because he can't swim. There are some fine moments in the movie, my favorites are; the fight scene between Wally and Hazel when he tries to give her symptoms of pneumonia to cover up his misreporting. The entire scene is completely offbeat, and hilarious. Secondly, when Hazel in a fireman's hat rescues Wally in the drowning scene; disaster turns into laughter. Carole Lombard offers outstanding performance as an innocent small town girl caught between love and pride; small town and big city. She is not only beautiful but adorable as a helpless girl from a rural town.
Max Rosenbloom, a well known boxer at that time has a cameo role and gives Hazel boxing lessons to prepare her for her fight scene with Wally. Ben Hecht adapted this story from a letter published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan by James Street, and the movie was produced by David Selznick. It was later revealed that Hecht wanted John Barrymore to be casted for the film, but David Selznick refused, since Barrymore was a confirmed alcoholic.
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 instead of hurting his career, she decides to fake her suicide by drowning during a cruise trip. Wally rush to save her but only to be saved by Hazel, because he can't swim. There are some fine moments in the movie, my favorites are; the fight scene between Wally and Hazel when he tries to give her symptoms of pneumonia to cover up his misreporting. The entire scene is completely offbeat, and hilarious. Secondly, when Hazel in a fireman's hat rescues Wally in the drowning scene; disaster turns into laughter. Carole Lombard offers outstanding performance as an innocent small town girl caught between love and pride; small town and big city. She is not only beautiful but adorable as a helpless girl from a rural town.
Max Rosenbloom, a well known boxer at that time has a cameo role and gives Hazel boxing lessons to prepare her for her fight scene with Wally. Ben Hecht adapted this story from a letter published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan by James Street, and the movie was produced by David Selznick. It was later revealed that Hecht wanted John Barrymore to be casted for the film, but David Selznick refused, since Barrymore was a confirmed alcoholic.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 42 reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasure in Lombardy
Faultless brevity in Lombard-y (Vermont and New York) with three or four hilarious moments and you're left with a helplessly silly smile throughout because of March's perfect quick... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mario
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Lombard served medium-well.
This is one of those less-than-classic pictures from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The plot of the movie is similar to Capra's "Meet John Doe", but neither Wellman's... Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2002
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
