Ball of Fire

Rating:
Summary: She jives by night
Review: I've been writing downbeat reviews lately, so I decided to write one about one of the five funniest movies ever. Just to answer the obvious question, the others are Monty Python's Meaning of Life, South Park:Bigger, Longer, Uncut, Seven Year Itch and The Bank Dick.

The reason this one's so good is because of Howard Hawk's direction, a super sharp Wilder-Brackett script, Gary Cooper's innate comic timing (sadly under used in his career), Barbara Stanwyck's second best comic role of her career (The Lady Eve was a role to die for) and a boatload of wily character actors.

The premise stems from eight professors spending several years writing an encyclopedia with the help of a willed grant that has them living all under the same roof in a in-town mansion. One day a garbageman (Allen Jenkins) enters their sheltered circle with some eye-opening questions and Prof.Potts (Cooper) realizes his three weeks of compiling slang is obsolete. He decides he must leave his austere surroundings to learn the language of the street. This decision is met with much apprehension by his seven older associates. He braves the street all day recruiting a wide array of slang-savvy consultants. He winds up in a night club featuring Gene Krupa and Sugarpuss O'Shea (Stanwyck).

I think my favorite part of the movie is when Potts goes backstage to recruit Sugarpuss and she tries to give him the brush. Well, pretty soon we've got a wild mix of sex and academics and gangsters.

It's sweet without being syrupy, it deals with mores without being sanctimonious. This is a neat trick that is very rarely achieved and makes this always funny movie better than the rest. Also, for me, it has the funniest ending ever.

Boogie

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly delightful comedy.
Review: A gangster's moll (Barbara Stanwyck) gets involved with eight stodgy professors who are writing an encyclopedia, and plenty of funny complications ensue. The professors are seven old guys and Gary Cooper. (Guess which one winds up with Barbara.) Seven of Hollywood's finest old character actors turn in excellent performances as the others. One of the best Forties screwball comedies. Not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly delightful comedy.
Review: A gangster's moll (Barbara Stanwyck) gets involved with eight stodgy professors who are writing an encyclopedia, and plenty of funny complications ensue. The professors are seven old guys and Gary Cooper. (Guess which one winds up with Barbara.) Seven of Hollywood's finest old character actors turn in excellent performances as the others. One of the best Forties screwball comedies. Not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining light-weight fare!
Review: A wry modern reworking of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," this film proves to be a fitfully amusing, light-weight romp, agreeably cast with willing players. One drawback: Billy Wilder's and Charles Brackett's umpteenth witty collaboration is allowed to go on too long by director Howard Hawks, who has been more energetic in his comedy efforts previously. Still, miles ahead of today's 125-minute comedies!

Rating:
Summary: Delicious Screwball Farce
Review: BALL OF FIRE is one of the classic screwball farces. With a wonderful script from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, smart, spot-on direction from Howard Hawks, great B&W cinematography from Gregg Toland, elegant set design from William Cameron Menzies (wait'll you see the wonderful Manhattan town house!) BALL OF FIRE turns Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on its head. Here, the seven dwarfs -- led by a terrific Gary Cooper -- are taught the ways of the world by Snow White -- an equally terrific Barbara Stanwyck. This is sheer, unadulterated fun, from beginning to end. Has any actor in the history of film had a year like Cooper had in 1941? Besides BALL OF FIRE, he also starred in two other critical and box office smashes -- Capra's very disturbing MEET JOHN DOE, and a second Hawks film, SERGEANT YORK, for which Cooper won his first Academy Award. Not bad for an actor whom some have claimed was wooden and only played himself! Buy this, most definitely.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious Screwball Farce
Review: BALL OF FIRE is one of the classic screwball farces. With a wonderful script from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, smart, spot-on direction from Howard Hawks, great B&W cinematography from Gregg Toland, elegant set design from William Cameron Menzies (wait'll you see the wonderful Manhattan town house!) BALL OF FIRE turns Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on its head. Here, the seven dwarfs -- led by a terrific Gary Cooper -- are taught the ways of the world by Snow White -- an equally terrific Barbara Stanwyck. This is sheer, unadulterated fun, from beginning to end. Has any actor in the history of film had a year like Cooper had in 1941? Besides BALL OF FIRE, he also starred in two other critical and box office smashes -- Capra's very disturbing MEET JOHN DOE, and a second Hawks film, SERGEANT YORK, for which Cooper won his first Academy Award. Not bad for an actor whom some have claimed was wooden and only played himself! Buy this, most definitely.

Rating:
Summary: BALL OF CORN
Review: Ball of Fire is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable movies from producer Samuel Goldwyn. The story of a group of professors writing an encyclopedia and unwittingly hiding a gangster's moll (Barbara Stanwyck) under their roof is truly hilarious. Gary Cooper is at once intrigued and attracted to Stanwyck because he is writing the encyclopedia entry on slang and she seems to be an expert on the subject. He convinces her, so he thinks, to help him in his research. Cooper as the young, handsome professor smitten with Stanwyck is at the peak of his star appeal. And what a wonderful group of character actors playing the older professors, the likes of which we will never see again: Henry Travers, Oscar Homolka, S.Z. Sakall, Richard Haydn, et al turning in wonderful performances. There are also comic gems from Dan Duryea and Dana Andrews as Stanwyck's gangster boyfriend. Andrews could have made a career out of playing tough guys based on his terrific characterization. Stanwyck's performance is right on target as the moll with a heart of gold. Her transformation from a hard, wise-cracking "broad" to a sweet good-natured young woman was deserving of the Oscar nomination she received for Best Actress of 1941. The musical remake, A Song Is Born, with Danny Kay and Virginia Mayo, just doesn't have the same zest and sense of fun that the original has. A rare slice of early 1940s Americana ( the slang expressions and interpretations are wonderful) and super entertainment to boot. You can't beat this one.

Rating:
Summary: Burns the House Down!
Review: Ball of Fire is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable movies from producer Samuel Goldwyn. The story of a group of professors writing an encyclopedia and unwittingly hiding a gangster's moll (Barbara Stanwyck) under their roof is truly hilarious. Gary Cooper is at once intrigued and attracted to Stanwyck because he is writing the encyclopedia entry on slang and she seems to be an expert on the subject. He convinces her, so he thinks, to help him in his research. Cooper as the young, handsome professor smitten with Stanwyck is at the peak of his star appeal. And what a wonderful group of character actors playing the older professors, the likes of which we will never see again: Henry Travers, Oscar Homolka, S.Z. Sakall, Richard Haydn, et al turning in wonderful performances. There are also comic gems from Dan Duryea and Dana Andrews as Stanwyck's gangster boyfriend. Andrews could have made a career out of playing tough guys based on his terrific characterization. Stanwyck's performance is right on target as the moll with a heart of gold. Her transformation from a hard, wise-cracking "broad" to a sweet good-natured young woman was deserving of the Oscar nomination she received for Best Actress of 1941. The musical remake, A Song Is Born, with Danny Kay and Virginia Mayo, just doesn't have the same zest and sense of fun that the original has. A rare slice of early 1940s Americana ( the slang expressions and interpretations are wonderful) and super entertainment to boot. You can't beat this one.

Rating:
Summary: Flawless Screwball Farce
Review: Ball Of Fire opened at Christmas, 1941, not the most propitious moment for a screwball farce to open. However, it was a huge hit, critically and financially. Since then, it has remained popular with moviegoers, but has suffered at the hands of the "auteurist" critics. It comes up short in the Howard Hawks pantheon because it doesn't deal with professionals. If one hasn't had his or her's critical faculties polluted by this idiotic school of criticism, you'll have a ball watching egghead Gary Cooper going up against nightclub stripper Barbara Stanwyck. It is classic screwball farce and it deserves to be mentioned with the great screwball farces of all time. You'll love this one!

Rating:
Summary: A Stanwyck masterpiece
Review: Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper are perfectly cast as Sugarpuss O'Shea and Professor Bertram Potts. Potts and seven other erudite, academically entrenched professors are creating a new encyclopedia. Their residence is the perfect hiding place for Sugarpuss, when her gangster boy friend (played by Dana Andrews) forces her to go on the lam in order to avoid a subpoena. Using subterfuge and feminine wiles, she easily convinces the professors to let her stay with them. Her pretence being that linguist Potts will benefit from her expertise with modern (1941) slang. After a lifetime of academic isolation, Potts is attracted by her worldly sophistication and insouciance. This attraction rapidly turns into love, and this feeling becomes mutual. "Ball of Fire" is an exceptional movie. Let's not spoil it by revealing too much. If you haven't seen "Ball of Fire", it's well worth seeing. It's so outstanding that one viewing is not enough.