Nothing Sacred (1937)

 William A. Wellman's "Nothing Sacred"


After the major success of "A Star is Born," producer David O. Selznick instantly rolled out another technicolor project with director William A. Wellman. Instead of a prestige drama like "A Star is Born," Selznick opted for a screwball comedy, as they were becoming box office successes in the mid to late 1930s. In fact, it was to be the first screwball comedy filmed in technicolor. Legendary scriptwriter Ben Hecht penned the screenplay while spending two weeks on a train. The film, "Nothing Sacred," is centered on a woman lying about an incurable illness and getting a free trip to New York City on the dime of an exploitative newspaper. Fredric March, who starred in "A Star is Born," was brought back again to work with Selznick and Wellman. There were even intentions to bring back Janet Gaynor, as well. However, after Wellman met Carole Lombard, he convinced Selznick to cast her as the lead instead. 

Screenwriter Hetch came up with the idea for the film after reading "Letter to the Editor" published in "Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan" by James H. Street. He chose to write a story that exploited the corruption and dishonesty of newspapers. In the story, a young woman who believed she had radiation poisoning discovers that it was only a misdiagnosis. However, rather than come clean, she opts to take a newspaper up on their offer to come to New York City and use her illness to garnish attention and newspaper sales. Hetch would continue to pen stories about these themes, including his incredibly famous script for "His Girl Friday." 

Upon its release, the film received unanimous critical acclaim. Despite this, it did poorly at the box office and recorded a loss of $350,000 at the box office. Even though the film failed commercially, it is still considered a classic film of the screwball comedy genre. Not only this, it also is the first color film to use process effects, montage, and rear screen projection. It is also considered by Lombard to be one of her favorite performances.

 


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