Film Snail

7.4

Ball of Fire

NR·1941·111m

Comedy

Romance

Crime

Comedy

Romance

Crime

Summary

A group of academics have spent years shut up in a house working on the definitive encyclopedia. When one of them discovers that his entry on slang is hopelessly outdated, he ventures into the wide world to learn about the evolving language. Here he meets Sugarpuss O’Shea, a nightclub singer, who’s on top of all the slang—and, it just so happens, needs a place to stay.

Cast

Gary Cooper

Professor Bertram Potts

Barbara Stanwyck

Sugarpuss O’Shea

Oskar Homolka

Prof. Gurkakoff

Henry Travers

Prof. Jerome

S.Z. Sakall

Prof. Magenbruch

Tully Marshall

Prof. Robinson

Leonid Kinskey

Prof. Quintana

Richard Haydn

Prof. Oddly

Aubrey Mather

Prof. Peagram

Allen Jenkins

Garbage Man

Dana Andrews

Joe Lilac

Dan Duryea

Duke Pastrami

Ralph Peters

Asthma Anderson

Kathleen Howard

Miss Bragg

Charles Lane

Larsen

Charles Arnt

McNeary

Elisha Cook Jr.

Waiter

Mary Field

Miss Totten

Alan Rhein

'Horseface'

Eddie Foster

Pinstripe

Aldrich Bowker

Justice of the Peace

Addison Richards

District Attorney

Kenneth Howell

College Boy

Tim Ryan

Motor Policeman

Gene Krupa

Himself — Orchestra Leader

Pat West

Bum

Tommy Ryan

Newsboy

Will Lee

“Benny — the Creep”

George Barton

Garbage Man (uncredited)

Doria Caron

Girl in Subway (uncredited)

Ken Christy

Cop with Ms. Bragg (uncredited)

Eddy Chandler

Cop on Garbage Truck (uncredited)

Edward Clark

Motor Court Proprietor (uncredited)

Pat Flaherty

Deputy (uncredited)

Otto Hoffman

Stage Doorman (uncredited)

Ethelreda Leopold

Nursemaid at Park (uncredited)

Lorraine Miller

Girl in Café (uncredited)

Ruth Clifford

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Yvonne Duval

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Joyce Matthews

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Patsy Moran

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Mildred Morris

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Edward Mundy

Spieler (uncredited)

Gerald Pierce

Delivery Boy (uncredited)

Lynne Roberts

Veiled Woman in Gene Krupa’s Audience (uncredited)

Francis Sayles

Taxi Driver (uncredited)

Helen Seamon

College Girl (uncredited)

George Sherwood

Deputy (uncredited)

Walter Shumway

Garbage Man (uncredited)

Bert Stevens

Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Russell Wade

Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Chalky Williams

Cop (uncredited)

Martha Tilton

Sugarpuss O'Shea (singing voice) (uncredited)

John Alban

Baseball Game Spectator (uncredited)

Tex Brodus

Passerby (uncredited)

Chet De Vito

Tollkeeper (uncredited)

Roy Eldridge

Trumpeter (uncredited)

Geraldine Fissette

Hula Dancer (uncredited)

Laura Gile

Date of Prof. Bertram Potts (uncredited)

George Golden

Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Catherine Henderson

College Girl (uncredited)

June Horne

Nursemaid at Park (uncredited)

Merrillee Lannon

Girl in Subway (uncredited)

Jean MacMurray

Chorus Girl (uncredited)

Hal McIntyre

Saxaphonist (uncredited)

Mike Morelli

Pool Hall Patron (uncredited)

William H. O'Brien

Baseball Game Spectator (uncredited)

Jack Perry

Pool Hall Patron (uncredited)

Crew

Director

Howard Hawks

Original Story

Thomas Monroe

Original Story, Screenplay

Billy Wilder

Screenplay

Charles Brackett

Reviews

Geronimo1967

June 25, 2022

This is a cracking little comedy with Gary Cooper as the unlikely boffin "Prof. Potts" who, alongside a group of equally eminent academics has been working on an encyclopaedia for the previous 9 years - and they've only got to "S". Enter the mailman who is doing a radio quiz just as our professor is concluding his section on slang - only for him to realise that their studious isolation has left them so out of touch as to render his slang definition worthless. Off he sets into the city to learn more where he alights on night-club singer "Sugarpuss O'Shea" (Barbara Stanwyck) and her colleagues who offer him a fascinatingly new vernacular. Turns out that she is the moll of wanted gangster "Joe Lilac" (Dana Andrews) so she agrees to help them develop their book whilst using their dignified home as a hideaway. A bit like Greer Garson in "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (1939), only much feistier, she melts the hearts of the old starched shirts and soon Cooper has become totally smitten.... Both leads are on top form; the writing barely comes up for breath as this pacy, engaging comedy comes to a suitably Damoclean conclusion... Great fun!