Ball of Fire (1941)

Sparks fly and romance blossoms when Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck team up for this fast and funny classic screwball comedy.

In a riff on Disney’s Snow White, gangster’s moll and burlesque queen Sugarpuss O’Shea, on the run from the cops and her mobster boyfriend, takes refuge in a household of seven academics who have for years been quietly compiling an encyclopedia. Mayhem follows as their life is shattered by her noisy presence, but she also brings fun into their lives. Cooper’s Professor Potts begins to fall for her, and her hip New York slang is perfect as a case study for inclusion in their encyclopedia.

With some fine character actors, and a sure-fire script by Billy Wilder, a wise-cracking Stanwyck strides through the film, a stirring mixture of toughness and sentiment, her strong personality a perfect foil for Cooper’s shy charm. Paul Marshall

USA, 1941. Director Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder from the short story From A to Z by Billy Wilder and inspired by Walt Disney’s 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck. 111 mins. U

Introduced by George Earwicker.  

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BFI programme notes

381757