nothing sacred be a look at modern celebrity at it bad and most bathetic . and god bless it for take it all apart . wally cook ( fredric march ) be an able newspaper reporter and who when plaster ( which appear to be frequently ) create hoax at the expense of his newspaper and his bos oliver stone ( yeah and really only he play by walter connolly here ) . at the start of this film and wally have an african american name ernest jones ( troy brown jr. ) pretend to be the sultan of marzepan a wealthy far eastern potentate who be plan to donate million to build some kind of multi cultural center in manhattan . at the last moment his wife show up with their child ( the wife be hattie macdaniel ) and and she wreck the hoax just a connolly be take credit for the donation for his newspaper . oddly enough there have recently be a two part news item in the new york time about the plan ( in abu dhabi ) for a cultural center and university on a large scale . but this seem to be a legitimate scheme . from the start ben hecht script follow the idea of how we and the sophisticate who live in city ( especially new york ) be far more gullible than we would imagine . wally be first banish to the obituary column of the paper ( ernest be give a janitorial job this film be from the 1930s and by the way and so some stereotyping be go to be here ) . after a month wally beg for a chance to resume his old job . oliver and somewhat reluctantly and end up give wally a scoop to interview a young woman in a new england town name hazel flagg ( carole lombard ) . hazel work in one of those factory where they use radium base paint on watch and so she have be diagnose by the local doctor ( enoch downer charles winninger ) a dying of radium poisoning . wally go to the town of warsaw and and find the native nosy and secretive and and hostile ( one little kid even bite wally on the leg ) . he find hazel and make the offer that oliver have for her if she will come to new york city and the newspaper will give her first rate hotel accommodation and fine dining and take to all the site and and have the city lay out the official red carpet to her until the day she die . hazel gleefully accept she hat be stick in her town . of course she fail to mention that dr. downer ( who be a heavy drinker ) botch up her test and and the lab have now reveal that she be healthy a a horse and will not die . she take downer with her and wally to make sure he keep quiet . the film then follow her rise to international celebrity trumpet by oliver newspaper and the mayor office and and other interested party . she be invite to all sort of event ( when she attend a wrestling match and the two wrestler supposedly kill each other stop to greet her with smile ) . a collapse at a nightclub ( due to drink too much ) be mistake for an early sign of her mortal illness ( sentimental oliver begs dr. downer not to spare him the bad the next edition be go out in half an hour . ) . in the meantime hazel and wally have fall in love but hazel do not know how to break the bad news to wally represent that she may live to a fine old age . many of the screwball comedy of the 1930s do not work so well today and due to change in our perspective . certainly the joke at the start concern ernest jones be not so funny now although hecht do work in a scene where ernest get some back ( have be call a fake by oliver and others at the newspaper and ernest stumble into the truth about hazel and when he see the others be swallow it doesn not give a word of warn ) . but for the most part nothing sacred work pretty well to this day and and showcases lombard in her best screwball performance and ably support by march in a comic turn for a change .