 | Showing Saturday May 19, Thursday May 31, 8PM Eastern, on TCM
This otherwise conventional comedy; girl tricks boy, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy; would have been unremarkable except for the lead role played by the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck. Remade ten years later by Hawks with the repressively adorable Danny Kaye and a b-list actress, even given cameos by Louie Armstrong, the story was a flop. Stanwyck's appearance in the original, her terrible haircut notwithstanding, (she has bangs that make her look like the evil Nelly on Little House in the Prairie) gives the movie a vampish power that is simply amazing to behold. In an on-film stunt, Stanwyck throws a punch that actually breaks the jaw of a co-star.
This story is a version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, where Snow White is not so pure, and she first dupes and then falls for one of the dwarves. The synopsis on Turner Classical Movies:
"When Prof. Bertram Potts decides he needs some first-hand research for an encyclopedia on slang he’s co-writing with seven scholars, he takes to the streets where he recruits various characters for further research, inviting them to the professors' residence. One of his subjects, stripper Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), takes him up on his offer when her gangster boyfriend, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews), decides to force her into marriage so she can’t testify against him. Moving in with the academics, Sugarpuss soon charms the older men and wins Potts’ love but it's only a matter of time until Lilac and his henchmen track her down."
If you watch this three star comedy only for a few minutes, wait 15 minutes in until Stanwyck sings "Drum Boogie" with the drum legend Gene Krupa. She gives a sultry rendition first shaking her hips on stage, accompanied by Krupa on drums with the band, and then with Stanwyck stage-whispering the lyrics at a nightclub table and Krupa reprising his signature piece with a pair of matches on a matchbox.
Turner Classic Movies considers this movie one of its "Essentials" and ever after, Stanwyck carried the moniker, "Ball of Fire."
Ted Keer
|
