Ball of Fire
- Gary Cooper: Prof. Bertram Potts
- Barbara Stanwyck: Sugarpuss O'Shea
- Oskar Homolka: Prof. Gurkakoff
- Henry Travers: Prof. Jerome
- S. Z. Sakall: Prof. stomach rupture
- 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
The strange domestication of the gangsters bride Sugarpuss, also known as Whirlwind of Love ( Original: Ball of Fire ) is an American comedy film directed by Howard Hawks starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck from the year 1941.
Action
A group of professors has been living secluded from the outside world in a house where they are working on an encyclopedia of human knowledge. The youngest among them, Professor Bertram Potts, is a linguist who specializes in the study of American slang. As the publisher of the Encyclopedia is impatient and the professors therefore prompts to finish their work as quickly as possible, Bertram goes on a self discovery through the city, where he is in a nightclub attention to the very colloquial vocabulary of vaudeville dancer Sugarpuss O'Shea.
First Sugarpuss is not willing to support Bertram of his research, but when they are hiding from the police need it plans to ask for her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac, they are quartered in a house of Bertram and his seven colleagues. With its unconventional nature and their unconcern she wins the scholars for themselves quickly. Also, it is increasingly impressed by the unworldly men and wants to bring a little more momentum in their lives. It teaches the Congatanzen and shows Bertram what the term " yum yum" ( Engl.: delicious) means by kissing him. After her Bertram makes a marriage proposal she accepts, Sugarpuss is kidnapped by Joe's followers, because she wants Joe also married, but only so they do not have to testify against him in court.
Bertram and his colleagues succeed, however, to outsmart Joe and rid Sugarpuss. As Sugarpuss ultimately doubts to be good enough for Bertram, convinced that she with his enthusiastic interpretation of "yum yum".
Background
The screenplay is based in part on the German fairy tale Snow White, the individual characterizations of the professors on the seven dwarfs from Walt Disney's animated film adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937) are based.
The strange domestication of the gangsters bride Sugarpuss was premiered on December 2, 1941 in the United States. In Germany the film was first shown on 24 May 1976 on television.
Director Howard Hawks filmed the script again in 1948 under the title The daring rescue of the moll Honey Swanson (A Song Is Born).
Awards
The film was nominated for the Academy Awards 1942 in four categories: Best Actress (Barbara Stanwyck ), Best Original Story ( Thomas Monroe, Billy Wilder), Best Original Score (Alfred Newman) and Best Sound ( Thomas T. Moulton ). However, the nominees could not prevail against the competition itself.
Reviews
" Sometimes breathless rapidly directed and played screwball comedy with well- placed actors; sometimes close to slapstick, but always amusing entertainment. "
"Mr. Cooper is sometimes a little shaky, but it provides an idea as only he can deliver it. Miss Stanwyck is absolutely delicious in their role of cosmopolitan seductress. [ ... ] The production is excellent and Howard Hawks keeps the whole thing for almost two hours with the right tempo in transition. "