Ball of Fire as a screwball comedy

This was a short essay from a collection of short essays I did for a film class on Ball of Fire which I felt was a really underrated screwball comedy:

Ball of Fire was directed and written by three of the best at their genre. Howard Hawks was a notable director of screwball comedies and the team of Wilder and Brackett wrote a number of comedies including Ernst Lubitsch's funniest film Ninotchka (1939). Wilder would also later become once of cinematic history's greatest comedic and dramatic directors with The Apartment and Some Like it Hot.

In Hollywood Genres, Howard Schatz writes, "The Screwball comedy dominated Depression-era screen comedy and provided that period's most significant and engaging social commentary" (151). Schatz suggests that screwball comedies were not just escapist fare for Depression-era audiences but they remedied their shattered dreams that their poverty and discrepancies in wealth couldn't be overcome. One important element for this remedy to work was that there had to be a love story that crossed class boundaries, usually with the woman as poor but more socially apt and the man as the opposite.

In Ball of Fire, Gary Cooper isn't so much rich as he is distinguished in the world of academia. He is a lexicologist in charge of an encyclopedia project with eight other professors, each in charge of a different field of knowledge. The fact that the other professors are twice his age highlights just how smart he is in his field. Barbara Stanwyck, an excellent comic foil, is a nightclub singer whose boyfriend is a gangster on the run from the police. She comes into contact with Cooper through his work. He is doing a section for his encyclopedia on slang and enlists her to help him and needing to hide from the cops, she accepts. This set-up is very interesting because while Gary Cooper is not rich, he's an expert on the language of the rich in a sense. In turn, Stanwyck's character, Sugarpuss O'Shea, is lower-class only through his standards. In terms of actual material wealth, O'Shea is richer than Cooper because her boyfriend has stolen large amounts of money while he has worked nine years into his uncompleted encyclopedia. Also, Sugarpuss O'Shea has absolutely no academic credentials, but suddenly becomes of use to him as an expert on slang through her lower-class background. Many twists on the traditional form of the screwball comedy are thrown into the story adding enough complexity to the relationship that it becomes unclear who really has the upper-hand. Moreso, the language theme presents wealth as an illusion which validates the main message of screwball comedies as well.

actor matches from yesteryear to today

This was in response to a USA Today article asking users
who they would pick as the modern day equivalent of certain stars:


Dick Powell-Ewan MaGregor: Both can sing and dance and play 

young heart throbs, and they also took on a dramatic role in 

Murder, My Sweet and Star Wars, respectively

Robert Mitchum-William DeFoe: Flexible range, can play 

jaded, dark characters

John Wayne-Robert DuVall-In their later stages in their 

career, seen as the top cowboy in tinseltown (Few people 

forget that John Wayne was originally turned down for 

Stagecoach for Gary Cooper and was seen as a B-movie actor 

in the 30s)

Rudolph Valentino-Antonio Banderas: The Latin Lovers

Jane Fonda-Madonna: Both sing, both have remained icons of 

their generations and have generated controvoursey, both 

have passions linked to other countries, Madonna with 

Argentina in Evita, and Hanoi for issues surrounding 

Vietnam, Hanoi Jane

Audrey Hepburn-Mischa Barton/Brittney Murphy: An Audrey 

Hepburn clone comes along every two years, just about, 

Hepburn was very cute and also had a lot of grace and 

sophistication to her. Jennifer Love Hewitt or Brittney 

Murphy are people I would’ve seen in those roles, and I’d 

still see Brittney Murphy in that role, but I think the next 

one to come along as current TV actress Mischa Barton, she’s 

captivating in the OC and the way she dresses when she goes 

to interviews shows a European sophistication about her

Sidney Poitier-Don Cheadle: Black actors, selective of their 

roles, committed to breaking new ground and play pretty much 

all drama forgoing lighthearted comedies. Cheadle’s 

intensity and devotion to Hotel Rwanda raises him to Sidney 

Poitier’s bar

Judy Garland-Emma Rossum: Phantom of the Opera star is 

young, has a naïve and innocent stage persona and has the 

chops to match

Faye Dunaway-Susan Sorandon: Could play sexy in her younger 

days, in her older days brings a commanding authority to all 

her roles (aka Network for Dunaway, Client for Sorandon)

Orson Welles-Sean Penn: Genius is impossible to deny by 

everyone, but seen as an outsider and difficult

Marlene Dietrich-Catherine Zeta-Jones: Foreign allure, very 

seductive

Clark Gable-Harrison Ford: Men of good character, steel 

resolve, both play heroes, Gable’s “Frankly my dear, I don’t 

give a damn” is something I could see Indiana Jones saying 

as he rescues Kate Capshaw from a burning temple while she’s 

complaining about her hair getting wet or something like that

Jimmy Stewart-Tobey MaGuire: Wide-eyed young-at-heart boys 

who can be strong when it counts (Mr. Smith Goes to 

Washington for Stewart, Spiderman for Tobey)

Diana Rigg-Jennifer Garner: Brittish avengers star was a 

beauty but also a tough girl

Barbara Stanwyck-Maria Bello/Marrisa Thomei: Brooklynite 

brashness to them, can be manipulative but usually straight-

up honest, endearing underneath it all

Henry Fonda-Tom Hanks: Quintissential good guy and barometer 

of American character. Hanks’ love of American history 

manifests itself in which projects he choses (Saving Private 

Ryan, Apollo 13), Fonda belief in the goodness of American 

values manifested itself in 12 Angry Men and My Darling 

Clementine among others

Katherine Hepburn-Merryl Streep: Versatile women who are 

respected for their craft above anyone of their generation