Comments on: Nothing’s Sacred http://realfake.org/blog/2008/09/nothings-sacred/ Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:21:28 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Terri http://realfake.org/blog/2008/09/nothings-sacred/comment-page-1/#comment-1877 Terri Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:59:06 +0000 http://realfake.org/blog/?p=988#comment-1877 They really stick to the idea that nothing's sacred. As you pointed out to me, men hit women. As I pointed out to you, in key love scenes between the two main characters, either their faces are completely blocked by walls or other large objects, or, as is the case at the very end, they're wearing dark sunglasses at night. The film is in color, even in 1937. When Carole Lombard's character has a terrible hangover, her doctor friend from back home pokes holes in raw eggs and tells her to "keep sucking eggs!" I feel like you could find a slew of Hollywood filmmaking "sacred cows" of the era that they violate if you look hard enough. I think the gags are too smart-ass to be cheap, exactly. The writing is indeed pretty great. One of my favorite bits of cinematography comes during the scene in which Lombard and March first confess their love. At first the two are huddled behind some sort of crate and you just see her ankles peeping out. After they've said the magic words, the camera slowly pulls around the corner and you just see them through vertical slats on another side of the crate.l It's dark and shadowy and there's just a bit of light coming from beyond them that gives the scene a little warmth. You get a subtle, shadowy, obstructed silhouette of the two lovers more or less nose to nose. It's dark but sort of soft and glowy, and at first it struck me as a very contemporary kind of shot, and one that wouldn't have worked very well in black and white. They really stick to the idea that nothing’s sacred. As you pointed out to me, men hit women. As I pointed out to you, in key love scenes between the two main characters, either their faces are completely blocked by walls or other large objects, or, as is the case at the very end, they’re wearing dark sunglasses at night. The film is in color, even in 1937. When Carole Lombard’s character has a terrible hangover, her doctor friend from back home pokes holes in raw eggs and tells her to “keep sucking eggs!” I feel like you could find a slew of Hollywood filmmaking “sacred cows” of the era that they violate if you look hard enough. I think the gags are too smart-ass to be cheap, exactly. The writing is indeed pretty great.

One of my favorite bits of cinematography comes during the scene in which Lombard and March first confess their love. At first the two are huddled behind some sort of crate and you just see her ankles peeping out. After they’ve said the magic words, the camera slowly pulls around the corner and you just see them through vertical slats on another side of the crate.l It’s dark and shadowy and there’s just a bit of light coming from beyond them that gives the scene a little warmth. You get a subtle, shadowy, obstructed silhouette of the two lovers more or less nose to nose. It’s dark but sort of soft and glowy, and at first it struck me as a very contemporary kind of shot, and one that wouldn’t have worked very well in black and white.

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