Has A Lot Going For It
Craig Connell | Lockport, NY USA | 01/26/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Wow, what a cast! Let's see, there's Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Haydn, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Dana Andrews, Allen Jenkins and more! Classic film fans know all these names. Also, when you have directors and writers such as Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder behind the film, you know it's probably a winner.
What's more, it's a fun movie, fun to see and especially fun to hear. Stanwyck is her usual fascinating self, but in this movie it's the men - the seven old bachelors and the younger Cooper in the "club" - that are the most entertaining.
Because the story dealt with a bunch of encyclopedia writers trying to find out the latest slang words, the dialog in here is really funny. The expressions of the day are dated and humorous and there are so many you can't count them all. Some are stupid; some are hilarious...which is what you get with most comedies anyway. Not every line hits the mark, but a lot do in this one.
Tack on some action and some romance and it's corny-but-cute film , entertaining all the way. This has been a tough DVD to find, but it's finally available, which is good news to anyone who needs a laugh!
"
An Immigrant's View of American Slang
Jane Pensive | 05/13/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Billy Wilder's fascination with his new language's more colorful expression is evident in "Ball of Fire." He wrote the film and spent his director apprenticeship watching the great Howard Hawk's fast-paced comedy direction of two of the most appealing comedians in film. Barbara Stanwyck is the sexiest skinny girl in cinema, and for sheer animal magnetism it doesn't get any dishier than Gary Cooper. Completely enchanting, the other six professors are "squirrely cherubs" straight from Heaven. I envy anyone discovering this movie for the first time."