BALL OF FIRE (DVD/SENSORMATIC) DVD

Ball of Fire
Ball of Fire is a delightful retelling (by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett) of the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" legend -- though strictly for grownups. Gary Cooper is the youngest of eight bookish professors authoring an encyclopedia. They find a perfect "research associate" in the curvaceous form of stripteaser Barbara Stanwyck, who (chastely) hides on the professors' domicile to escape her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews). As Stanwyck interprets various slang expression, she and the professors grow quite fond of one another; she brings out their sentimental sides, while they revive her essential decency. Naturally, Cooper is the one most smitten, though he hides his true feelings until the inevitable clinch. When gangster Andrews and his torpedo Dan Duryea show up to claim Stanwyck (Andrews wants to marry her so she can't testify against him), the professors save the day and it is Cooper who ends up with the beautiful Stanwyck. For the record, two of the "ancient" professors are Richard Haydn and O.Z. Whitehead, still in their mid-thirties (the others are S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Oscar Homolka, Leonid Kinskey and Aubrey Mather). Producer Sam Goldwyn later remade Ball of Fire as a Danny Kaye musical, A Song is Born (1948). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Gary Cooper as Prof. Bertram Potts Barbara Stanwyck as Sugarpuss O'Shea Oscar Homolka as Prof. Gurkakoff Dana Andrews as Joe Lilac Dan Duryea as Duke Pastrami S.Z. Sakall as Prof. Magenbruch Henry Travers as Prof. Jerome Tully Marshall as Prof. Robinson Leonid Kinskey as Prof. Quintana Richard Haydn as Prof. Oddly Aubrey Mather as Prof. Peagram Allen Jenkins as Garbage Man Ralph Peters as Asthma Anderson Kathleen Howard as Miss Bragg Mary Field as Miss Totten Charles Lane as Larsen, the Lawyer Charles Arnt as McNeary Al Rhein as Horseface

Crew Perry Ferguson - Art Director McClure Capps - Art Director Edith Head - Costume Designer William Tummel - First Assistant Director Howard Hawks - Director Dan Mandell - Editor Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score) Gene Krupa - Songwriter Gregg Toland - Cinematographer Samuel Goldwyn - Producer Howard Bristol - Set Designer Julia Heron - Set Designer Thomas T. Moulton - Sound/Sound Designer Thomas Monroe - Screen Story Charles Brackett - Screenwriter Billy Wilder - Screenwriter Thomas Monroe - Short Story Author

Ball of Fire
This broad, farcical burlesque on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs features Barbara Stanwyck (in a part originally considered for Ginger Rogers) as a stripper who hides out with a group of professors when she's being chased by gangsters. The professors are compiling a dictionary, and she helps them with slang and other matters. Gary Cooper as a dorky professor is something of a stretch, but the entire movie specializes in absurdity. This slapstick comedy was co-written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, based on a story that Wilder had co-written much earlier, in Germany. Producer Samuel Goldwyn wanted Wilder to do the screenplay, a request that set off a fascinating sequence of events. Wilder and his writing partner Charles Brackett were under contract to Paramount Pictures, and when he requested to borrow them, the studio replied that they didn't loan out writers, only actors and occasionally directors. Samuel Goldwyn, however, had Gary Cooper under contract, and Paramount had been trying to come up with a leading man for its planned adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's book For Whom The Bell Tolls; Cooper seemed perfect for the role. A deal was worked out by which Goldwyn got the services of Wilder and Brackett, and Paramount got Gary Cooper. Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks, turned out to be a huge box-office and critical hit, garnering three Oscar nominations, including one for Wilder. A year later, he began his Hollywood directorial career, in which he would gain fame for such witty comedies as Some Like It Hot. Hawks was only at the midpoint of a directorial career that ran from 1926 to 1970. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
 

Alfred Newman: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Dramatic Score (nominated) Barbara Stanwyck: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Actress (nominated) Billy Wilder: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Story (nominated) Thomas Monroe: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Story (nominated) Thomas T. Moulton: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, Spanish Subtitle Options: English, Spanish Sound Processing: DD2: Dolby Digital Stereo DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1: Academy Apeture MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 112 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1 -- Ball of Fire 1. Main Titles/Home Stretch [3:54] 2. Noble Endeavor [5:17] 3. A Living Language [5:16] 4. Research [1:35] 5. "Drum Boogie" [5:27] 6. Misunderstood [4:30] 7. Parsing the Evening [2:37] 8. Just Another Apple [4:27] 9. Needle in a Haystack [2:45] 10. What's Going On? [4:06] 11. That's Corn [2:20] 12. Conga Line [4:17] 13. Major League [2:41] 14. Yum-Yum [7:19] 15. A Curious Life [1:06] 16. Hello, Daddy [4:35] 17. Wedding Party [6:49] 18. A Woman's Heart [6:21] 19. Wrong Bungalow [5:35] 20. A Vast Lie [2:29] 21. Lead Donkey [4:35] 22. The East River? [4:53] 23. Sword of Damocles [5:18] 24. Better or Worse/End Titles [7:08]