Ball of Fire: Sex and Slang

Howard Hawks was known for creating some of the greatest comedies ever made, however I confess that my favorite is one of his most underrated gems. "Ball of Fire" isn't usually uttered along with Hawks' better known comedies like "Twentieth Century", "Bringing up Baby" or "His Girl Friday", but it's every bit as funny as it puts a light touch on taboo subjects as sexual repression. Along with that it is probably Hawks' most poignant and surprisingly touching comedy.

Working from a brilliant script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett who would collaborate on some of Wilder's own classic films, "Ball of Fire" is a variation on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" only this time the Dwarfs are replaced by seven very sheltered professors who for the past nine years have been living together in a big house writing an encyclopedia. Each professor is an authority on their respective subjects, one is a mathematician, one is a botanist, one is a historian etc... the seven men are inseparable and a running gag in the film is Hawks always films them as a group rather than individuals. The eighth member of the group is Professor Potts (Gary Cooper) who is the youngest and specializes in languages and words. When a garbage man enters their house with some trivia questions for them, Potts is astonished by the man's speech pattern. He speaks in a certain slang that Potts is fascinated with, and he decides probably for the first time to go out in the real world and see how people speak.

In his travels Potts stumbles upon a sexy nightclub singer named Sugarpuss (Barbara Stanwyck) who seems to speak a new kind of slang every time she opens her mouth. When Potts propositions Sugarpuss with a scientific study on slang language she takes him up on it, but only because her boyfriend happens to be a gangster (Dana Andrews) who's suspected of murder, and she decides to hideout with the eight professors so she can avoid questions from the cops.

When Sugarpuss arrives, she brings all her street smarts with her, which is something the reclusive scientists aren't used to. Things begins to get complicated and the usual routine the professors are used change. Sugarpuss is a live and vivacious girl which is something these men have not come across in quite some time, perhaps never for some of them. It becomes predictable that Potts who at first is annoyed by her interruption of his work ethic soon is infatuated by her. Stanwyck plays Cooper like puddy in her hands not unlike what she did to Henry Fonda in "The Lady Eve" made the same year.

Hawks was never afraid of being unsubtle and you can see how the innuendo filled script provided by Wilder and Brackett opens up his brilliant comedic staging. "Ball of Fire" could be considered as screwball, as it is filled with it's share of madcap craziness particularly near the finale with a showdown with some gangsters. However the film is far more restrained compared to his other comedies. In "Bringing up Baby" Hawks always complained that every character was off the wall, there was no one to relate to. In "Ball of Fire" it seems he has learned from his past mistake. Each of the professors are seen in somewhat of a caricature however Hawks looks at them as more of an exaggeration on human behaviour. We never forget that these men are all kind and charming, we never get the sense they are dirty old men for letting a much younger and sexy woman living with them. They treat her as if they were her father or grandfather and we accept that.

There is even a moment in the film where Hawks allows for some pathos, when all the men are sitting together bonding in pure Hawks fashion and the one widower of the group Professor Oddly (Richard Hayden) reminisces about his deceased wife. It's as if at that instance, the film becomes something else, and we begin to care more about these men than we thought.

Even though "Ball of Fire" isn't as well known as Hawks' more famous comedies, those who have discovered it seem to be in agreement that it is a special movie for the director and stars. Cooper perhaps has never been more clueless and clumsy in a movie yet so delightful. He keeps his masculine charm, but his character reveals a stronger vulnerability than we are used to seeing him in. As Sugarpuss, Stanwyck creates one of her most memorable comedic characters. She exudes sexiness but also a savy and a wit to her character. Sugarpuss may be the most uneducated person in the room, but she is certainly the smartest.

Howard Hawks would go on the make other comedies, most of them starring Cary Grant, however "Ball of Fire" was probably the last comedy he made that had him working on all cylinders. He would go on to make later masterpieces in different genres, but you could say from "Twentieth Century" in 1934 to "Ball of Fire" in 1941, no one made a greater string of comedies.