Saturday, September 22, 2012

Movie review - "Ball of Fire" (1941) ***

A bright central idea - nightclub singer Barbara Stanwyck hides out from the cops to protect her gangster boyfriend with some nerdy professors who are writing an encyclopaedia - isn't executed the best. It might have been stronger if the gangster was after Stanwyck but it provides sufficient fish out of water. Stanwyck memorably shows off her splendid legs in one scene. Gary Cooper is the hunky professor whose sex appeal is exploited by the other professors to keep their backer in line. Of course he gets a scene where he feels betrayed and goes into a sulk (this seems to turn up in most Cooper films) but he recovers to get to the rescue.

Some bright lines - the script was written by Billy Wilder and you can see his love/fascination for American slang. A sexy scene in the dark between Stanwyck and Cooper, Stanwyck's hair is very high in a way that reminds me of my grandmother, Gene Kupra does a drum solo, the running time probably goes for too long, the support cast is excellent.

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