Nothing Sacred | Rotten Tomatoes

Nothing Sacred

Released Nov 25, 1937

1h 15m

Comedy

List

92%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Certain she was dying from radium poisoning, Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) is delighted to learn from her doctor that it was a false alarm. But when dapper and desperate New York City reporter Wally Cook (Fredric March) shows up looking for a story about a young girl braving terminal illness, Hazel decides that she's sick again. Wally whisks her off to Manhattan, where her supposed courage wins her many admirers. The toast of the town, she falls in love with Wally and dreads being discovered.

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Roger Moore

Movie Nation

The luster is fading on this "classic" too fast for the shine to last.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 29, 2021

Full Review

Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

The principals are excellent as usual, and have the additional fine support of Charles Winninger and Walter Connolly.

Jul 18, 2019

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The perpetual digs against journalists are especially amusing, as when someone cracks that even "the hand of God reaching down into the mire couldn't elevate one of them to the depths of degradation!"

Rated: 3/4

Dec 22, 2018

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Wellman knew to keep this story short -- it runs just 73 minutes -- and speedy. And yet he understands how to conduct it so that it's more than just breakneck comedy.

Jan 7, 2012

Full Review

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

Classically funny Wellman screwball comedy starring wonderful Lombard, equalled by March.

Rated: 5/5

Mar 23, 2008

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Sophisticated, well-oiled 1930s screwball comedy.

Rated: A-

May 30, 2007

Full Review

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Jarrod R

What a delightful surprise for a cold winter's afternoon.   Carole Lombard is incandescent. I'm star struck to say the least. And Fredric March is enough to keep up with her comedic timing. Highly recommend, keep king in mind a few problematic scenes, but not as glaring as some from that era.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/24

Full Review

Steve D

Too over the top for me.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/08/24

Full Review

Luca D

Loose plot, great acting. I really like the quote when they're sitting in the shipping crate about how most people only get a few good hours of happiness. The quote made me think about how when we feel happiness we should really take it hour by hour, because that is all that some people get from life.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

William Wellman was really a helluva director. Anyone that can do a movie like this, and make "The Ox-Bow Incident" too, must have been born to direct. Coming in at a breezy 75 minutes, "Nothing Sacred" is still very funny on several levels, for several different reasons. Plot does not matter as much as execution, and how you deliver a line matters more than the line itself. Frederic March and Carole Lombard are perfect, and the supporting cast is just as good, especially the actor who played 'Oliver Stone', March's frustrated boss. Wellman does unconventional things like make the actors faces be hidden by a tree branch, practically unheard of in that day and age. But the fact of the matter is, that sometimes people are not perfectly framed in life, so maybe they shouldn't be in the movies - at least not as a rule. The first time you get a good look at Lombard, she has shaving cream on her face from kissing a man who is shaving - also not the normal star-moment you might expect.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Tom M

Lombard was the beauty queen of slapstick in the 30's and this is her masterpiece. She's adorable in every scene. Good story and even March can be overlooked by her performance.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/30/20

Full Review

william k

Lively and mildly amusing satire is quite dated, but watchable for its wit, fast pace and good cast.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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William A. Wellman

Director

Carole Lombard

Hazel Flagg

Fredric March

Wally Cook

Charles Winninger

Dr. Enoch Downer

Walter Connolly

Oliver Stone

Sig Ruman

Dr. Emil Eggelhoffer

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Synopsis

Certain she was dying from radium poisoning, Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) is delighted to learn from her doctor that it was a false alarm. But when dapper and desperate New York City reporter Wally Cook (Fredric March) shows up looking for a story about a young girl braving terminal illness, Hazel decides that she's sick again. Wally whisks her off to Manhattan, where her supposed courage wins her many admirers. The toast of the town, she falls in love with Wally and dreads being discovered.

Director: William A. Wellman
Screenwriter: Ben Hecht
Production Co: Selznick International Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 25, 1937, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 15m

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