Nothing Sacred (1937)

Directed by William A. Wellman. Starring Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Walter Connolly, Charles Winninger, Sig Ruman, Troy Brown, Maxie Rosenbloom, Frank Fay, Margaret Hamilton, Hattie McDaniel, Olin Howland.

Considering its widely-viewed status as a minor “classic,” this jaundiced laffer is surprisingly stiff and short on real laughs, though it’s written and performed with just enough bite to make for mild enjoyment. Story: a woman (Lombard) misdiagnosed with radium poisoning takes advantage of the error by letting a reporter (March) jet her off to New York City where she becomes the toast of town. Lombard puts forth a game effort and succeeds, but long stretches just sit there onscreen, and its “cute” criticism of yellow journalism only occasionally contains enough wit to overcome its naïveté; journeyman director Wellman always was better off with heavier fare. The only color film of Lombard’s career, and the first of its kind in the screwball comedy genre. Loosely remade as a Martin & Lewis comedy, Living It Up (with Ruman reprising his role as Dr. Emil Eggelhoffer).

63/100