Ball of Fire (1941)

What makes it different from others?

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I'm not a fan of the romantic comedy genre, but Ball of Fire (1941) is so well-made and funny that I cannot help but fall under its spell every time it comes on TV. 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. They're accompanied by a treasure trove of character actors, including some of my favorites Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, and Tully Marshall.While it features nothing beyond kissing, this film is sexier than any modern picture I can name. A cute movie.

Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire is one of the best love stories that I have ever seen in a long time since Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960) because this movie has all the perfect ingredients to tell this kind of story. 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. Then after the concert is over he heads to O'Shea's dressing room where he meets he in order for her to give more slang ideas and is sent out in a hurry using slang which was pretty funny to see, then that same night O'Shea goes to the bachelor house where Potts lives and they start an instant relationship and have their fun until the mob takes her away from him and she ends up getting forced to marry a mob boss named Joe Lilac (played by Dana Andrews) but Sugarpuss already knows that Potts wouldn't her get away with Lilac. The casting for this movie was excellent especially the supporting cast besides Andrews, also includes Henry Travers, Oskar Homolka, S.Z. Zakall, and so much more, and especially the wonderful screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, and last but not least Howard Hawks's excellent direction for the movie. For which this movie teaches an important lesson which is that if people want to marry one another the couple who are engaged to one another whoever it may be have to be committed to one another at least for a long time.

Barbara Stanwyck first appears in a sizzling musical number with Gene Krupa at a nightclub visited by straight-laced professor Gary Cooper. From this point forward, we know that two different worlds have consented to collide.The real professor of this venture is the Dean of Improbable Comedy, Billy Wilder, who provides a story that has just as many curves in the road as Stanwyck does. However, there are almost too many points where the viewer must suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the proceedings. While the chemistry between the leads is undeniable, and the yum-yum scene a true classic, how is it that after receiving his first kiss we find Cooper's character suddenly talking marriage? Portraying him as a sweet innocent is one thing, but having him become all matrimonial moments later seems to change him from naïve to impulsive, and given his intelligence, it is not likely he would behave so hastily and foolishly, at least not for long.Later, when Stanwyck's Sugarpuss jilts Coop, he sulks considerably. He tells his colleagues that he does not want to be coddled by a bunch of psychological mumbo jumbo. He seems to have come to his senses. But, of course, this does not last, as anyone who has seen the film to its un-logical conclusion will tell you. That must have been some powerful yum-yum.

A group of eight professors is writing an encyclopedia. The naive professor of English Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) concludes that he needs field research to update the slang in his article and he goes to the streets and to a night-club. He meets the sexy singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), who is the mistress of the mobster Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews), and invites her to participate of the meetings of his research in the foundation that is promoting the encyclopedia. When she learns that the police have arrested Joe Lilac and are chasing her to testify against him, she decides to meet Prof. Potts and stay in the foundation. She becomes the pride and joy of the seven old man and Prof. Potts falls for her and proposes to marry her. Meanwhile Joe Lilac decides to get married to Sugarplus to avoid her testimony in the court. "Ball of Fire" is a silly and funny romantic comedy with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper hilarious and showing a great chemistry. I believe that for natives in English this comedy is funnier since the dated "modern" slang might be understood and not translated. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Bola de Fogo" ("Ball of Fire")