Ball of Fire
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
A group of bachelor professors (one was a widower) have lived together for some years in a New York City residence, compiling an encyclopedia of all human knowledge. The youngest, Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper), is a grammarian who is researching modern American slang. The professors are accustomed to working in relative seclusion at a leisurely pace with a prim housekeeper named Miss Bragg (Kathleen Howard) keeping watch over them. Their impatient financial backer Miss Totten (Mary Field) suddenly demands that they finish their work soon.
Venturing out to do some independent research, Bertram becomes interested in the slang vocabulary of saucy nightclub performer "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). She is reluctant to assist him in his research until she needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews). Sugarpuss takes refuge in the house where the professors live and work, despite Bertram's objections and their housekeeper's threat to leave because of her. In the meantime, Lilac decides to marry her, but only because as his wife she would not be able to testify against him.
The professors soon become enamored of her femininity, and she begins to grow fond of them. She teaches them to conga and demonstrates to Bertram the meaning of the phrase "yum yum" (kisses). She becomes attracted to Bertram, who reciprocates with a vengeance by proposing marriage to her. She avoids giving an answer to the proposal, and agrees to Lilac's plan to have the professors drive her to New Jersey to marry Lilac. After a series of misadventures, including a car crash, Sugarpuss realizes that she is in love with the Professor, but is forced to go ahead with her marriage to Lilac to save the professors from Lilac's henchmen. Bertram, meanwhile, unaware of Sugarpuss' love for him, prepares to resume his research, sadder but wiser, until he discovers her true feelings.
The professors eventually outwit Lilac and his henchmen and rescue Sugarpuss. She decides she is not good enough for Bertram, but his forceful application of "yum yum" convinces her to change her mind.

Review: Not only is he a convincing complete geek, but he's funny, AND sexy!The story is pretty silly (inspired by "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs", really):  A group of dorky professors are writing an encyclopedia, and English Professor Cooper decides he needs more information on Slang.
Let's see, there's Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Haydn, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Dana Andrews, Allen Jenkins and more!
Stanwyck is her usual fascinating self, but in this movie it's the men - the seven old bachelors and the younger Cooper in the "club" - that are the most entertaining.When you have directors and writers such as Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder behind the film, you know it's a winner.Because the story dealt with a bunch of encyclopedia writers trying to find out the latest slang words, the dialog in here is really funny.
Barbara Stanwyck plays a wise-cracking entertainer who moves in with 8 professorial types in "Ball of Fire," a marvelous Billy Wilder film, directed by Howard Hawks, that is loosely based on Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs!
And Hawks put together a superb list of supporting players including seven of our finest character actors to be Cooper's professorial colleagues, Henry Travers, Leonid Kinskey, Aubrey Mather, Oscar Homolka, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall and making his film debut, Richard Haydn.These eight cloistered academicians are working off a grant to create some kind of ultimate encyclopedia.
She decides a good place to hide might just be the house where all these professors are quartered.It's quite a mismatch, scholarly and shy Cooper and brazen Stanwyck, In fact Hawks modeled Cooper's Bertram Potts on the character Cary Grant played in Bringing Up Baby which Hawks also directed.
At the center of the craziness that becomes the story (mostly towards the end and early on and a little in the middle) is a story that we know is formulaic- that a woman who is already attached (if not quite yet hitched) to someone else falls into an unlikely situation with another man and the two suddenly become really close, the man first and then the woman- but its the chemistry between a sexy pre-Double Indemnity Barbara Stanwyck with conservative Gary Cooper.If, ultimately, it doesn't have the machine-gun energy of His Girl Friday (then again, few movies do), it makes up for it with a fun premise that Hawks and Wilder ride out logically, as far as comedy premises can go.
There are a few key scenes that break the mold of the comedic antics (some of which, like Stanwyck showing the old men how to dance is hilarious and memorable): one is the bachelor dinner between the professors, when the one professor, played by Richard Haydn, talks about his marriage from many years before, and it becomes genuinely tender and sincere, not played for laughs, certainly not when they're all singing the song Gienevive.
Billy Wilder seems to have written this vehicle especially tailored to the talents of BARBARA STANWYCK and GARY COOPER because they never had roles in romantic comedies that suited them as well.Babs is a sassy stripper on the lam from the law and sheltered by seven old men (and one young professor) assigned to work on a dictionary of slang.
She teaches them a thing or two with her own street talk and soon insinuates herself into their affections, much the way Snow White did with the Seven Dwarfs.It's farce all the way, broadly played by the delightful cast of men, including S.Z. SAKALL, OSKAR HOMOLKA, RICHARD HAYDYN, HENRY TRAVERS, and DANA ANDREWS as her henchman lover.But it's her chemistry with Cooper that practically glows on screen, giving her character the softer touch and taking the brassiness out of her "Sugarpuss" characterization.Although the material is strictly "cornball" by today's standards, it's still a lot of fun to watch Cooper fall under her spell--and to watch Dana Andrews (in a good early role) getting his comeuppance."Sugarpuss" and "Potsie" are quite a pair!!
"Ball of Fire" is a silly and funny romantic comedy with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper hilarious and showing a great chemistry.
This is the two masters' only joint collaboration (Wilder wrote, Hawks directed), and though Wilder complained about his script being misinterpreted (as he usually did before breaking out as a director of his own scripts), the result is one of the most delightfully entertaining comedies ever made.Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) and 7 other professors are working on the definitive encyclopedia that will most definitely give substantial space to the man who invented the electric toaster.
The names of many characters are hilarious.Seven of the support cast are professors working with Gary Cooper who plays Prof.
The real delights of the film were the seven elderly professors, particularly Richard Haydn whose comical one-liners and stuff-shirt demeanor keeps one laughing hysterically.This movie was by far one of the best I have seen for a long time, cleverly combining elements of comedy, romance, and drama..
Add Gary Cooper as a hopelessly naive professor and six lonely older men and you've got the formula for some highly entertaining comedy.Cast great character actors as the professors and throw in Dana Andrews and Dan Duryea and you've got a doz.Best screwball scene?
A 1940s riff on Snow White, it's a high point in screwball comedy, perfectly pairing Gary Cooper as a virginal professor out to learn about slang and Barbara Stanwyck as a vivacious gangster's moll who falls for his awkward charm in spite of herself.
The professors are all charming character actors most classic movie fans will know and love: Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Oscar Homolka, Tully Marshall, Richard Haydn, Leonid Kinskey, and Aubrey Mather.
Directed by Howard Hawks, the master of rapid-fire comedic dialogue, it tells the story of nerdy language scholar Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper, in one of his best "aw-shucks" performances, along with "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town") who lives in a house with seven other stodgy, albeit older bachelor scholars, all of whom are working on an encyclopedia.Upon discovering that his knowledge of slang is outdated, Potts bravely ventures forth into the real world, where he discovers flashy (literally, as the dress she is first seen in is sequined and purposely lit so as to momentarily "blind" Potts when she shows up at his house in it) nightclub singer Katherine "Sugar Puss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck).
Gary Cooper (my all-time personal favorite actor) is absolutely sexy here, believe it or not, and Barbara Stanwyck is perfect as the title's sassy little "Ball Of Fire", with her brash, streetwise exterior but ultimately soft heart, climbing onto a stack of books to reach the 6'4" Potts so she can show him the meaning of "yum-yum".
Dana Andrews ("Laura") and Dan Duryea ("The Little Foxes"), are effective, if somewhat wasted, in small parts as typical stereotypical 1940's mobsters.You'd have to enjoy these kind of old screwball, dated comedies of the '40's to love this one...and I do.Side note: the roles of the seven professors (excluding Cooper's) were inspired by Disney's dwarfs from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"..
Professor Potts (Gary Cooper) goes off to research some slang and meets up with Sugarpuss (Barbara Stanwyck) who is wanted by the police in order to bring a murder charge against her gangster boyfriend Joe (Dana Andrews).
Ball of Fire (1941)This isn't Howard Hawks's triumph by any means, and I'm no fan of Gary Cooper, the star here (along with Barbara Stanwyck, who I love).
But there are some fun moments and great lines, and if you are chilling and don't expect something as moving as Holiday or as relentlessly hilarious as Bringing Up Baby, you might just love this.And there are sidelights that make it worth a watch for movie lovers--an early bit appearance by Elisha Cook, cinematography by Gregg Toland (same year and same photography as Citizen Kane), supporting roles by Oscar Homolka and Dan Duryea (more favorites), and writing by Billy Wilder.
Added to this is the knowing hand of director Howard Hawks and a stellar cast headed by Barbara Stanwyck as the show girl with a heart of gold, Sugarpuss, and Gary Cooper as Prof.
The screenplay is written by Hollywood legend Billy Wilder who also wrote The Apartment, Double Indemnity and Some Like It Hot and is loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.A singer played by Barbara Stanwyck witnesses a murder and deceives eight professors into hiding her from the police.
The film uses comprehensible 1940's slang for much of the humour and explains most including an "Ameche" which I now know is a telephone.There are great performances from Stanwyck, Dana Andrews and oddly Gary Cooper.
And that's exactly what he decides to do: to leave their secluded study for once, to go out and gather new slang words and people who are liable to know a LOT more of them - and one of them is nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck); and very soon he becomes not only romantically involved with her, but also PRETTY unromantically with her gangster friends...One of the very FOREMOST examples of the classic screwball comedy, this movie is a perfect example for its genre from the first to the last minute; directing and writing are 'super-duper', as Professor Potts' helpers from the street would say - and the performances, EVERY single one of them, are simply outstanding: Cooper and Stanwyck, the mobsters with Dana Andrews and Dan Duryea as leaders, and of course the lovable elderly professors who are so much wrapped up with their work - until Sugarpuss brings a breath of fresh air into their lives!
He recruits several candidates to meet in his study, and his recruitment efforts stop at Barbara Stanwyck, a nightclub singer named Sugarpuss O'Shea."Ball Of Fire", though somewhat dated, is great fun and part of it is recognizing all the old-fashioned slang expressions included in the script - a sparkling masterpiece written by the team of Chas.
And Roy Eldridge got the chance to display those high notes.The movie, itself, was a thorough delight that offered laughs galore thanks to the script, the Hawks direction, Gary Cooper and Stanwyck and some of the best-known character actors of the era including ole S.
This film has been compared with the Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and come to think about it, it might have been an inspiration for another film classic.The chemistry between Gary Cooper, who plays Potts, and Barbara Stanwyck, that appears as Sugarpuss O'Hara, is what makes the comedy work the way it does.
A group of eight presidents are sharing a residence working on an encyplopedia of all human knowledge.The youngest one of them, Professor Bertram Potts is a scholar of grammar and language, who is researching modern American slang.He finds out his knowledge is very small, so he goes outside to learn more.He finds a saucy burlesque performer "Sugarpuss" O'Shea, who is down with the slang.But she doesn't want to assist him in his research until she needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac.So she finds a refuge from the professors' place.And poor Bertram has hard time concentrating on the work with her "yum yum".Ball of Fire (1941) is a terrific romantic screwball comedy from Howard Hawks.The great Billy Wilder was writing it.A musical version called A Song is Born was made in 1948 with Danny Kaye.Gary Cooper makes a perfect Bertram Potts.Barbara Stanwyck makes a perfect Sugarpuss.The fantastic seven other professors are played by: Oskar Homolka (Prof.
Magenbruch).There are lots of funny moments in this movie.The comical, old-fashioned boxing style Cooper uses is awfully lot of fun.The whole gang of professors is awfully lot of fun.This movie teaches us some great, hip slang words, like "yum yum" (kisses) or Ameche, meaning the telephone because Don played Mr. Bell in that movie.Of course, that slang is dated today, and you'd probably get punched in the nose using that today, but that's how hip people talked back then.Ball of Fire is great fun from the hip era..
All that changes when "Sugarpuss" O'Shea, a nightclub dancer on the run shacks up with the intellectuals and shakes up their outlook on life.Despite what seems like an overly contrived plot of professors spending years making an encyclopedia on slang, the genius of Wilder and Brackett comes alive in the pure fun of the dialog the characters are allowed to have.
This 1941 film is a great film and comedy for anyone who likes Gary Cooper,(Professor Bertram Potts) and Barbara Stanwyck,(Katherine "Sugarpuss", O'Shea.
The majority of old-movie buffs will probably enjoy "Ball of Fire." It has bucketloads of 1940s charm and a great creative team behind it, including acclaimed director Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder on writing duties and, of course, the ever-sultry Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale.And yet, it falls somewhat flat for me.
Regardless there still remains one very poignant scene in which Professor Oddly (the only bachelor of the group) recounts about his past wife and the men start singing.There are few other character entrances in film more entertaining than that of Barbara Stanwyck as Sugarpuss O'Shea (a not so innocent name by today's standard) as she enters the picture singing and dancing with Gene Krupa and his orchestra - could the character's fast-living personality be summed up in a more entertaining manner?
Howard Hawks's "Ball of Fire" is a loose reworking of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", replacing Snow White with a burlesque singer and the dwarfs with a group of professors working on an encyclopedia.When the language expert (Gary Cooper) realizes that he's out of touch with current slang he comes out of seclusion in order to remedy the situation.
Gloriously wacky "screwball" comedy, ably directed by Howard Hawks and featuring superb starring turns by Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, brilliantly supported by Cooper's band of encyclopedia-compiling old eggheads.
This film was definitely made for a 1941 audience with little thought to what future generations would think of it,and if you weren't around when the film was made,as I wasn't,the language spoken by the hipsters of the day can be very hard to keep up with.I enjoyed the film nonetheless,mainly because of Barbara Stanwyck.This lady had it all.She had charm,a vibrant personality,sex appeal,and the list of things she could do on screen was endless.It was her flare for comedy that shines in Ball of Fire.Gary Cooper was great as an unhip bookworm,and played off of Stanwyck very well.Though somewhat dated,Ball of Fire is a fun comedic roller-coaster ride to another time..
Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper give funny, sexy performances as a gangster moll and a nerdy professor, respectively, in this lightweight Howard Hawks offering from 1941.Stanwyck plays Sugarpuss O'Shea, girlfriend of a thug (Dana Andrews) who finds himself in hot water after a dead body turns up.
Eight professors compiling information for an encyclopedia provide refuge for sexy singer Barbara Stanwyck (as "Sugarpuss" O'Shea), who is hiding from police investigating gangster boyfriend Dana Andrews (as Joe Lilac).
Impressive sanitation worker Allen Jenkins is the one who prompts the professors to include a section on "slang" in their encyclopedia, allowing Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett to show off wit.****** Ball of Fire (12/02/41) Howard Hawks ~ Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Dana Andrews, Allen Jenkins.
The dress she wears for her nightclub performance is a real stunner.Anyway, Dan Duryea, who plays Pastrami in the movie, at one point talks about something he learned from the movies--and licks his thumb, then wipes the front sight of his gun.This is a clear reference to the movie "Sergeant York", which starred Gary Cooper and was directed by Howard Hawks, director of "Ball of Fire", and was made in the same year (1941).
Stanwyck, a nightclub performer, happens to need a hide-out -- unexpected complications in mobster boyfriend's life -- so she joins the seven scholars in their oppressive Victorian townhouse as a "research assistant." Some history value - I always like the assortment of European character actors in movies of this time, mostly driven to Hollywood by the war and accommodated there -- but I found most scenes of the 6 old guys (Cooper much younger) more suffocating and repetitive than amusing.
Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) and his six assorted old oddballs who are trying to put together an encyclopedia are forced by hoodlums (Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea, et al) to take in Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) and hide her from the police.
Nightclub performer Barbara Stanwyck must hide from the law so she visits the home of professor Gary Cooper who caught her "Drum Boogie" act while researching slang words for an updated dictionary.
(It should be noted that her "Lady Eve" co-star, Henry Fonda, was also her leading man in her now almost forgotten 1941 movie, "You Belong to Me", a screwball comedy that is actually quite good, if not the classic, that her other films of that year was.) Gary Cooper plays against type here as the wimpy professor who is hiding from the opposite sex and only finds it when he ventures out of the metaphorical woods he is hiding in and into the city jungle of Stanwyck's world.
The movie stars Gary Cooper as an English Professor named Bertram Potts who is working with a group of other professors on finishing an encyclopedia (which Potts estimates that it will take at least 3 years to finish) even while Potts is on an "investigation" on modern slang throughout town in order to learn more about it, then Potts ends up going to a nightclub where he meets a singer and burlesque girl named Sugarpuss O'Shea (played by Barbara Stanwyck in an Oscar nominated performance) who is singing a slang song called "Drum Boogie" which gives Potts a fine opportunity to write the slang words in the song on a page in his notepad.
Hilarious comedy from Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper.