Directed by:
Howard HawksCinematography:
Gregg TolandComposer:
Alfred NewmanCast:
Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Richard Haydn, Aubrey Mather, Allen Jenkins, Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea (more)Plots(1)
BALL OF FIRE opens with a group of eight mild-mannered professors who are hard at work compiling an encyclopedia. Work is dull but progressing well until language expert Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) realizes his section on slang is outdated. For research he ventures into the outside world, where he encounters nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), who, thanks to her mobster boyfriend, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews), needs a place to hide out. The professors are only too happy to have a woman living among them, and the brassy singer teaches them more than slang, in the process livening up their academic lives with nylons and conga lines. Potts becomes infatuated with Sugarpuss, but when Joe wants her back, things get complicated. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Gary Cooper
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
Barbara Stanwyck
USA
Best movies:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Oskar Homolka
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Ball of Fire (1941)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Sabotage (1936)
Henry Travers
UK
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Edison, the Man (1940)
The Yearling (1946)
S.Z. Sakall
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Casablanca (1942)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Tully Marshall
USA
Best movies:
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Scarface (1932)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
Richard Haydn
UK
Best movies:
The Sound of Music (1965)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
Aubrey Mather
UK
Best movies:
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
Bernadette (1943)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
Allen Jenkins
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
The Front Page (1974)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Dana Andrews
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Laura (1944)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Dan Duryea
USA
Best movies:
Scarlet Street (1945)
The Little Foxes (1941)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Ralph Peters
USA
Best movies:
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
The Talk of the Town (1942)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Kathleen Howard
Canada
Best movies:
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Laura (1944)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Charles Lane
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Charles Arnt
USA
Best movies:
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Elisha Cook Jr.
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
The Killing (1956)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Addison Richards
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Kenneth Howell
USA
Best movies:
Ball of Fire (1941)
A Star Is Born (1937)
Tim Ryan
USA
Best movies:
It Started with Eve (1941)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
The Stratton Story (1949)
Lorraine Miller
USA
Best movies:
The Big Sleep (1946)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)