From my favorite movies..

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Howard Hawks' emblematic screwball comedy germinates from the wheeze of Billy Wilder when the latter was still in Germany, it is the quintessential coupling of the pedantic and the sultry, Gary Cooper plays Prof. Bertram Potts, a grammarian who is leading a group of eight scholars compiling and collating an encyclopedia, when a sultry nightclub performer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Stanwyck) takes shelter in their residence in NYC, who indeed is the gun moll of mob boss Joe Lilac (Andrews), the rest is written in the stone although it takes a tortuous route to reach its feel-good finish line. Less loquacious and rapid-fire than Howard's BRINGING UP BABY (1938), BALL OF FIRE points up the mine of vernacular in lieu of verbal rebuttal between the opposite sexes, it is during Prof. Potts' field trip to collect current lexicon of slang when he is swept off his feet by a bling-bling Sugarpuss, performing DRUM BOOGIE with Gene Krupa and his orchestra, accentuated by the bandleader's killing drum solo and an ingenious miniature encore with matches. They are two different kettles of fish, a stuffy bachelor vs. a pragmatic siren, a mismatch rarely can make their way out in real life, and that's what enthralls even today's audience, to watch something profoundly absurd but innocuously entertaining without its story being dumb-ed down or defamed by crass jokes pandering to the lowest common denominator is almost too good to be true.Also, the star appeal is in high voltage, Cooper is not just a too handsome specimen in a button- down suit, he also makes the shtick of doing everything with proprieties look effortless and goofy; an Oscar-nominated Stanwyck benefits from an earthier temperament and layers of inner conflicts deviled by her sapio-sexual conversion, is at her best when she retains her phlegm before impishly doling out her "yum yum" to a gawky virgin, which catches him unawares. Another fount of joy comes from the riff on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as the other 7 professors grows an unanimous affinity to Sugarpuss, to the dismay of the stern housemaid Miss Bragg (Howard), and among them, the only widower is the botanist Prof. Oddly, Richard Haydn brings about a love-ably prissy mannerism that steals the limelight in the well-orchestrated crunch when the group has to outmaneuver Joe's two pistol-wielding henchmen.In short, considerably more accessible and more laid-back than BRINGING UP BABY, BALL OF FIRE excels in conflating different genre fodder (comedy, musical, gangster) into a helluva ride of a modern fairy-tale, and runs away with our affection on a moment's notice.

Producer Sam Goldwyn has really opened up the purse strings on this all-star musical comedy in which every move both in front of and behind the camera adds up to a glorious feast. Both Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck are in fine fettle, and they're supported by a wonderful array of our favorite character players. Even Elisha Cook, Jr. is on hand. And in addition to the character players like Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers and S.Z. Sakall, we find a number of rising stars in support spots including Dana Andrews as the chief villain and Dan Duryea as another mobster. As usual from Sam Goldwyn, production values are superb. Ball of Fire has a place in history as the last of Hollywood's famous pre-war screwball comedies. World War 2 put paid to this genre. Goldwyn's later attempt to remake the film as a musical for Danny Kaye, A Song Is Born (1948), was not successful. Incidentally, as some viewers have noted, the sound is low on the DVD in some of the earlier scenes, but it improves vastly once Gene Krupa makes his appearance.

There is really nothing wrong with this film, from the directing to the acting, to the script. Spoilers Ahead: What makes this film work is the obvious chemistry between Stanwyck and Cooper, particularly in the scene in the bungalow where Potts (Cooper) confronts Sugarpuss (Stanwyck) with the truth that she essentially played him and the other professors for fools, and you see her face in the darkened room referring to herself as a tramp. If anyone has ever watched Stanwyck you know she is the kind of woman to quote Miss Bragg (Kathleen Howard) in this film "That causes the destruction of empires.", and for Stanwyck to give even an inch is unusual. Equally unusual is Cooper to end up with the kind of woman that is not ideal. In fact, of his films (That did not co-star Stanwyck They appeared 3 times together ) I can only think of 3 other times this happened. 1: "Desire" (Marlene Dietrich) 2: Vera Cruz (Sara Montiel), and 3: Along Came Jones (Loretta Young (A film very much like "Ball of Fire" with Young (Even more than Cooper) really cast against type). What really makes this film is the supporting cast, which is unusually strong: Allen Jenkins, Dan Duryea, Dana Andrews, Oskar Homolka, and Henry Travers. A special note goes to Gene Krupa who played "Drum Boogie" on a matchbook (He actually did it for fun, and it was later added to the film). If someone is a Cooper, and (or) a Stanwyck fan it should be a must see. If someone is unfamiliar with Stanwyck, and wants to see why she was great, this is an excellent place to start.

I had heard so much about Ball of Fire, with people saying how wonderful it was. After finally seeing it, I really have nothing other than to echo these sentiments. The film looks wonderful, the costumes and settings look lovely and the cinematography doesn't look at all dated. The music is jaunty with an endearing touch of romanticism, the story is an updated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and a scintillating one it is too, Wilder's direction is spot-on and the screenplay is witty and hysterically funny. I loved the performances too, Gary Cooper is gawky and very lovable and Barbara Stanwyk is alluring with a genuine sense of comic timing. Henry Travers, Richard Haydn and Dana Andrews are wonderful in support. Oh and fans of Stanwyk will get a treat from her performance of Drum Boogie with percussion king Gene Krupa. Overall, a great movie if there ever was one. 10/10 Bethany Cox