Tuesday, February 16, 2010

BALL OF FIRE (1941)


Ball of Fire (1941). Comedy. Cast: Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Supporting cast: Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea and Elisha Cook J. The story was turned into a musical film, A Song Is Born(1948). Cast: Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. Director: Howard Hawks.

I finally had the opportunity to see the film BALL OF FIRE. I thought the story of Bertram Potts, a linguistics professor and his group of quirky colleagues writing a encyclopedia, was Hilarious. Loved watching the faces of the people that Bertram was eavesdropping on. My favorite scene is when Sugarpuss is teaching the conga to the other professors. I also loved when the story takes a wild turn and the professor and his colleagues take on Sugarpuss's mobster boyfriend and his henchmen. Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck make a wonderful on screen couple in this comedy.

FUN FACTS:

The roles of the seven professors (besides Gary Cooper) were inspired by Disney's Seven Dwarfs. There is even a photograph showing the actors sitting in front of a Disney poster: S.Z. Sakall - Dopey; Leonid Kinskey - Sneezy; 'Richard Haydn' - Bashful; Henry Travers - Sleepy; Aubrey Mather - Happy; Tully Marshall - Grumpy, and Oskar Homolka - Doc.

2 comments:

Noiree said...

Dawn, I'm delighted to learn how much you enjoyed Ball of Fire. I'm also a fan of A Song is Born, but Ball of Fire is the best version of the tale. What an incredible fun fact! Thanks for sharing!

monty said...

Dawn, I agree with Noiree. Great post about Ball Of Fire. It made quite the double bill Valentines' Day with The Lady Eve.

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