Ball of Fire (B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
The dynamic duo of Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper star in 'Ball of Fire' (directed by the great Howard Hawks & written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder) is a humorous 1941 screwball romantic comedy - not one of my favorite cinematic genres - but this one gets the 'ole thumbs up from me. Cooper plays Bertram Potts, a shy linguistics expert collaborating with 7 other professors of varying ages to complete a 12 yr. encyclopedia writing project. These professors live quite a sheltered life; living & diligently working together in a creaky old mansion. When Prof. Potts decides he needs to update a chapter on modern slang, he ventures to a chic nightclub where he meets sexy, wisecracking burlesque performer, Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Stanwyck).
Sugarpuss, who slinkily sings with Gene Krupa & his Orchestra, desperately needs a place to hide out from the mob when the cops want to pick her up to testify against her gangster fiancee, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews). Not knowing that she is wanted by Joe & the police and, fascinated by her command of modern jargon, Potts invites her to stay with him. What better place for her to find refuge & lay low than spending a few days living with Prof. Potts and ... "the 7 dwarves"? Winning over the professors, connections to the Snow White tale are apparent in the script, ha. Mobster Joe intends to marry Sugarpuss promptly so he can cite marital privilege & prevent her from having to testify against him. Problem is: Bertram Potts falls {quite literally!} for Sugarpuss and, she slowly-but-surely comes to find his heartfelt attentions appealing as well, which doesn't sit well with a resurfaced Joe. Hijinks ensue.
This film's many attributes include fast-paced, witty dialogue by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett, the two stars in peak career form {Stanwyck & Cooper each had 3 mega hits in 1941 and co-starred in two of them together!}, & an amazing supporting cast. Barbara Stanwyck was, perhaps, at her most glamorous in 1941, a year which also saw her starring in the wonderful The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe, along with Cooper. As Sugarpuss, Stanwyck is smart, vivacious & bursting with charisma. Funny; she was nominated for an Academy Award for this performance here and, while it's undeniably great, I preferred her even more in The Lady Eve.
Gary Cooper, an actor who can sometimes appear wooden, has never been more appealing as the funny, bashful, nerdy Bertram Potts. Like Stanwyck, he was at the epicenter of his career, what with Meet John Doe, and his Academy Award-winning role in the super popular Sergeant York. And the rest of the cast is just swell. The other stuffy, but loveable professors are played by Henry Travers, Oscar Homolka, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Aubrey Mather and, best of all, Richard Haydn {who we all love from 1965's The Sound of Music}. Dan Duryea plays Joe's henchman, Duke Pastrami. And Elisha Cook Jr. pops up in a scene; he had quite the year, what with playing Sidney Greenstreet's "gunsel" in the great The Maltese Falcon.
So, I definitely enjoyed 'Ball of Fire' and acknowledge its classic screwball comedy status that fans flat-out love, but I cannot put myself in that exact camp. The cast is undeniably fantastic. That said, while the screenplay is chock full of humor, 'chock FULL' is the operative phrase, here; the nearly 2 hour run time is too long, spreading the simple story too thin for the sake of late-drama & inevitable script-fed confrontations. Near the end, I was starting to find it all a bit tiresome & shrill, with an annoyingly complicated climactic escape. But again, most of this film is great fun & even touching. Gregg Toland's cinematography & Edith Head's va-va-voom costumes impress. I DID have a 'ball of fun' ... until I didn't. Still, high quality movie.
Sugarpuss, who slinkily sings with Gene Krupa & his Orchestra, desperately needs a place to hide out from the mob when the cops want to pick her up to testify against her gangster fiancee, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews). Not knowing that she is wanted by Joe & the police and, fascinated by her command of modern jargon, Potts invites her to stay with him. What better place for her to find refuge & lay low than spending a few days living with Prof. Potts and ... "the 7 dwarves"? Winning over the professors, connections to the Snow White tale are apparent in the script, ha. Mobster Joe intends to marry Sugarpuss promptly so he can cite marital privilege & prevent her from having to testify against him. Problem is: Bertram Potts falls {quite literally!} for Sugarpuss and, she slowly-but-surely comes to find his heartfelt attentions appealing as well, which doesn't sit well with a resurfaced Joe. Hijinks ensue.
This film's many attributes include fast-paced, witty dialogue by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett, the two stars in peak career form {Stanwyck & Cooper each had 3 mega hits in 1941 and co-starred in two of them together!}, & an amazing supporting cast. Barbara Stanwyck was, perhaps, at her most glamorous in 1941, a year which also saw her starring in the wonderful The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe, along with Cooper. As Sugarpuss, Stanwyck is smart, vivacious & bursting with charisma. Funny; she was nominated for an Academy Award for this performance here and, while it's undeniably great, I preferred her even more in The Lady Eve.
Gary Cooper, an actor who can sometimes appear wooden, has never been more appealing as the funny, bashful, nerdy Bertram Potts. Like Stanwyck, he was at the epicenter of his career, what with Meet John Doe, and his Academy Award-winning role in the super popular Sergeant York. And the rest of the cast is just swell. The other stuffy, but loveable professors are played by Henry Travers, Oscar Homolka, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Aubrey Mather and, best of all, Richard Haydn {who we all love from 1965's The Sound of Music}. Dan Duryea plays Joe's henchman, Duke Pastrami. And Elisha Cook Jr. pops up in a scene; he had quite the year, what with playing Sidney Greenstreet's "gunsel" in the great The Maltese Falcon.
So, I definitely enjoyed 'Ball of Fire' and acknowledge its classic screwball comedy status that fans flat-out love, but I cannot put myself in that exact camp. The cast is undeniably fantastic. That said, while the screenplay is chock full of humor, 'chock FULL' is the operative phrase, here; the nearly 2 hour run time is too long, spreading the simple story too thin for the sake of late-drama & inevitable script-fed confrontations. Near the end, I was starting to find it all a bit tiresome & shrill, with an annoyingly complicated climactic escape. But again, most of this film is great fun & even touching. Gregg Toland's cinematography & Edith Head's va-va-voom costumes impress. I DID have a 'ball of fun' ... until I didn't. Still, high quality movie.