“I LOVE HIM because he doesn’t know how to kiss — THE JERK!”
Barbara Stanwyck, at least in my opinion, isn’t looked on as a comedic icon. That said, she’s pretty darn good in 1941’s Ball of Fire, also starring Gary Cooper.
Based in part on Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Ball of Fire is the story of Sugarpuss, a wisecracking nightclub singer who finds herself on the run from the cops after an incident caused by current boyfriend Joe Lilac (Dan Andrews). In desperation she somehow finds a house where numerous academic types are working on a comprehensive encyclopedia (no kidding). The leader (one supposes) of this group is Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper).
Bertram’s focus is grammar and he’s currently working on a submission on current slang. It’s a bit humorous if you can backdate your mind to the early 1940s, though it’s a bit dated by today’s standard. Ultimately Bertram, not knowing that Sugarpuss is already betrothed to Joe, proposes marriage to Sugarpuss. Still hoping to buy some time for her, boyfriend in hiding, reluctantly agrees.
Ultimately Joe resurfaces and tricks Bertram into bringing Sugarpuss into New Jersey for their marriage, with the known understanding that once Joe and Sugarpuss are married she cannot testify against him in court.
Mayhem ensues and at the end of the day Stanwyck and Cooper are reunited with the help of the seven other professors/dwarfs. The comedy throughout isn’t bad and some of it still holds up.
In a somewhat risky casting move neither of the two leads were (or are) known for their comedic chops. We’ve already mentioned Stanwyck, but I’d venture a guess that no one reading now would associate Gary Cooper with comedy. Always playing the strong, silent and rather sullen type, Cooper rocks his role as a nerdy professor, frequently and effectively stammering and fumfering along especially in his scenes with Stanwyck.
The professors as a group are wonderful to watch. Though nerdy to the gills, it is cute and amusing to see them fall over each other to not only to cover each other’s foibles but also help Bertram is his clumsily romantic efforts.
Outside of both Stanwyck and Cooper’s great performances, there are a wondrous amount of little inside jokes. There’s more than a few references to earlier pictures, including the previously mentioned Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Gary Cooper’s then just finished film Sergeant York. One of the last perennial screwball comedies of the classic era. Highly recommended.
This was remade later as the ill-fated 1948 film A Song is Born, which is likely to be avoided unless you’re really needing a Danny Kaye fix.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cN0TJdjPM[/embedyt]