Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. This Samuel Goldwyn Productions film (originally distributed by RKO) concerns a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge.

This article is about the 1941 film. For the song by Tommy James and the Shondells, see Ball of Fire (song). For other uses, see Ball of Fire (disambiguation).
Ball of Fire
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHoward Hawks
Produced bySamuel Goldwyn
Screenplay by
Based onFrom A to Z
by Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder
Starring
Music byAlfred Newman
CinematographyGregg Toland
Edited byDaniel Mandell
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • December 31, 1941 (1941-12-31)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.2 million (US rentals)[1]

The supporting cast includes Oscar Homolka, S. Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Dana Andrews, and Dan Duryea. In 1948, Hawks recycled the plot for a musical film, A Song Is Born, this time starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo.[2] The film is also known as The Professor and the Burlesque Queen. In 2016, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.[3] [4]

Plot

A group of professors, all bachelors except for 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, Miss Bragg, keeping watch over them. Their impatient financial backer, Miss Totten, suddenly demands that they finish their work soon.

Venturing out to do some independent research, Bertram becomes interested in the slang vocabulary of nightclub performer Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). She is reluctant to assist him in his research until she suddenly needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac. 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, Joe 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. Sugarpuss teaches them to conga and demonstrates to Bertram the meaning of the phrase "yum yum" kisses. She becomes attracted to Bertram, who reciprocates by proposing marriage to her. She avoids giving him an answer to the proposal, and agrees to Joe's plan to have the professors drive her to New Jersey to marry him. After a series of misadventures, including a car crash, Sugarpuss realizes that she is in love with Bertram, but is forced to go ahead with her marriage to Joe to save the professors from his 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 Joe and his henchmen and rescue Sugarpuss. She decides she is not good enough for Bertram, but his forceful application of a kiss changes her mind.

Cast

Music
Publicity photo of Barbara Stanwyck for the film

Martha Tilton provided Barbara Stanwyck's singing voice for the song "Drum Boogie".[5] Drummer and bandleader Gene Krupa performed the song onscreen with his band.[2] In an unusual twist, he also played it on a matchbox with matches for drumsticks. Krupa band member and historically significant trumpeter Roy Eldridge received a brief on-camera spot during "Drum Boogie". At one point, the professors also perform an a cappella version of the 1869 song "Sweet Genevieve".

Production

The script was written by Charles Brackett, Thomas Monroe, and Billy Wilder from a short story titled "From A to Z", which Wilder had created while he was still in Europe.[6] Partly inspired by the fairy tale "Snow White", the professors were loosely based on the dwarfs from Walt Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although Ball of Fire was directed by the well-established Howard Hawks, Wilder had already decided that he needed to direct his screenplays to protect them from studio and other directors' interference. Hawks was happy to let Wilder study his directing on the set and Wilder thereafter directed his own films. The film was the second feature of 1941 to pair Cooper and Stanwyck, following Meet John Doe.

Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard turned down the Sugarpuss role, while Lucille Ball was almost cast until Gary Cooper recommended Stanwyck.[7][8]

Wilder reveled in poking fun at those who took politics too seriously. At one point, Sugarpuss points to her sore throat and complains "Slight rosiness? It's as red as the Daily Worker [a left-wing newspaper] and just as sore."

Wilder also worked in a reference to Cooper's Oscar-winning performance in the title role of Hawks' 1941 film Sergeant York by having Dan Duryea's character Duke Pastrami say, "I saw me a movie last week" before licking his thumb and rubbing it on the sight of his gun, a technique Cooper's York uses to improve his marksmanship.

Reception

The film was a big hit at the box office. However, because of the terms of Sam Goldwyn's deal with RKO, RKO recorded a loss of $147,000 on it.[9]

Ball of Fire holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.24/10. The site's consensus reads: "A splendidly funny twist on the story of Snow White, Ball of Fire boasts a pair of perfect leads in Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck".[10]

Awards and honors
Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper

Ball of Fire was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture, Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T. Moulton) and Best Story.[11]

In World War II, a total of 12 servicemen were pen-pals with Stanwyck; two of them asked for a poster of her in the Ball of Fire outfit for their mess hall.[12]

Ball of Fire is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

In a 1999 AFI poll, stars Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck were both ranked #11 on the male and female lists of the greatest American screen legends.

References

Notes
  1. "101 Pix Gross in Millions." Variety, January 6, 1943. p. 58.
  2. Kael, p. 48.
  3. Price, Gary. "Library of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry Including Thelma & Louise, The Princess Bride, and The Breakfast Club". LJ INFOdocket. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
  4. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  5. Smith 1985, p. 93.
  6. Fusco, Joseph (2017-09-12). Dan Duryea: A Career Appreciation. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media.
  7. Wayne 2009, p. 106.
  8. Thomson 2010, p. 80.
  9. Jewell 2012 p. 254.
  10. "Ball of Fire." Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: June 30, 2019.
  11. "The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners." oscars.org. Retrieved: November 17, 2011.
  12. Madsen 1994, p. 216.
  13. "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs." American Film Institute. Retrieved: August 21, 2016.
  14. "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions Nominees." ."] American Film Institute. Retrieved: August 21, 2016.
  15. "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes Nominees." American Film Institute. Retrieved: August 21, 2016.
  16. "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees." American Film Institute. Retrieved: August 21, 2016.

Bibliography
  • Kael, Pauline (2011) [1991]. 5001 Nights at the Movies. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-250-03357-4.
  • Jewell, Richard B. RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-52027-179-1.
  • Madsen, Axel. Stanwyck: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 0-06-017997-X.
  • Smith, Ella. Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck. New York: Random House. 1995. ISBN 978-0-517-55695-5.
  • Thomson, David. Gary Cooper (Great Stars). New York: Faber & Faber, 2010. ISBN 978-0-86547-932-6.
  • Wayne, Jane. Life and Loves of Barbara Stanwyck. London: JR Books Ltd., 2009. ISBN 978-1-906217-94-5.
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