Nothing Sacred: Carole Lombard is way too fast for everyone else

Is this thing worth a watch?

If you like movies that move at 100 miles per hour and treat human decency like a punchline, you’ll love Nothing Sacred. If you prefer your comedies gentle or slow, you might find this one a bit exhausting. It’s sharp enough to draw blood, and it doesn't really care if you like the characters or not.

Carole Lombard is the absolute star here. She moves through scenes like she’s trying to catch a train that’s already leaving the station. She plays Hazel Flagg, a woman who realizes her terminal illness is a mistake but decides to milk the pity for a trip to New York anyway. Her energy is just wild.

Fredric March plays the reporter, Wally Cook, and he’s perfect as a guy who is so obsessed with his next big story that he’s practically vibrating. He’s the kind of guy who would trip his own mother if it meant getting a front-page scoop. Their chemistry is pure chaos.

Some odd notes from the watch:

• The dialogue is so fast you almost have to rewind just to catch the insults.
• There’s a fight scene between them that feels shockingly rough for a 1937 movie. It’s not graceful—they’re basically just tackling each other. It made me laugh out loud.
• The newspaper office scenes are loud. Everyone is shouting. It’s like a workplace nightmare.
• I keep thinking about the way they mock the public’s obsession with “heroes.” It feels like it could have been written last week.

It’s funny to see how this compares to something like Night Court, which feels like it’s operating on a completely different planet of tone. Nothing Sacred isn't trying to be sweet. It’s trying to be a mirror, and the reflection is pretty ugly.

The pacing is relentless. You barely get a second to breathe before the next lie is told or the next disaster hits. Sometimes it feels like it’s about to fall apart, but that’s kind of the point, right? It’s a movie about a house of cards.

The ending isn't some big, moral lesson. It’s just... what it is. The characters don't really grow, and they don't really change. They just keep sprinting toward the next headline. Wildly cynical stuff. I dug it. 🍿