Review of Ball of Fire (1941) by Bill T — 10 May 2010

Very surprising movie here, as I had no idea what to expect. I thought it was going to be an all out film noir.. It starts out that way, and Sranwyck is certtainly film-noir material for most of the movie as a gangsters gal, hiding out from the cops in a bunch of old creaky encyclopedia writers headed up by one Gary Cooper.

Cooper wants to study her use of colorful language, and Stanwyck's happy to oblige until the whole thing boils over. That is, until she, well you can sort of predict where it's going, but the combination film noir / gangster / crotchety old comedy works smashingly well.

I enjoyed this a lot!