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Big Heat Movie Review
Before I started this blog, I did some classic movie reviews at my old blog. The Big Heat Movie Review.
Ball of Fire and A Song Is Born Movie Reviews
Ball of Fire. Directed by Howard Hawks, Screenplay by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder story by Billy Wilder & Thomas Monroe. Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Dana Andrews. 1941. 111 minutes.
A Song is Born. Also directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, Mel Powell. 1948. 113 minutes.
A sexy Barbara Stanwyck and a bunch of old men. What do you think happens? OK, Gary Cooper isn’t old, but in this movie he might as well be. Except, he looks like Gary Cooper. The casting is excellent except for Gary Cooper. Somehow he seems miscast as the guy who was reading at two years old. He does a good job, but I’m not convinced as I watch. Barbara Stanwyck is great as the “girl from 3rd Ave.” Billy Wilder co-wrote, I wonder why he didn’t’ direct? As you can imagine, anything written by Wilder is going to be fun to listen to. If you are a person who loves fast-talking dames and gangsters, this is the movie for you. Linguists probably love Ball of Fire the way librarians and computer geeks love Desk Set.
Ball Of Fire legs
Gary Copper is Professor Bertram Potts, the leader of eight professors spending a decade or more living together while writing an encyclopedia. One day the trashman, hoping to win a contest, asks the professors a question using a lot of slang. The words he uses cause Prof. Potts to realize his 23-page article on slang is way out-of-date. (And really, when was slang more colorful than the 1930s and 1940s?) So he sets out to find people to help him learn new slang terms. One of the helpers is Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), a dancer and gangster’s moll that needs to hide out. She moves into the bachelor house and stirs the dust.
The supporting cast is great, as in many of these old movies. Henry Travers (the angel from It’s A Wonderful Life), S. Z. Sakall (From Casablanca), and others.
Jazz Greats Playing Together
This movie was remade in 1948 as A Song is Born starring Danny Kaye in the Copper role and Virginia Mayo in the Stanwyck role. The big difference in Song is that the professors are writing a music encyclopedia and discover Jazz. Benny Goodman stars as one of the professors and Louis Armstrong is in it as well. There are a couple of great scenes of several jazz greats playing together. We should be thankful for these scenes. Originally they were to be songs for Danny Kaye, but the songwriter (Kaye’s wife!) wanted double her normal amount. So Samuel Goldwyn decided to just let the musicians play popular jazz. The direction isn’t as sharp, and the supporting actors, while recognizable, lack the charms of the original. However, Kaye brings a more comic reading of the role and it is worth a viewing just to see all those classic jazz players together.
Bringing Up Baby Movie Review
Bringing Up Baby. Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols & Hagar Wilde from a story by Hagar Wilde. Starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.
A totally preposterous movie, but Bringing Up Baby is great fun to watch. Very fast-paced dialog in this, one of the most famous Screwball Comedies. Later remade as the woefully unknown What’s Up Doc? starring Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Streisand. In many ways What’s Up Doc? is a more satisfying movie. However, I wouldn’t want to give either of them up.
Professor David Huxley (Cary Grant) is trying to construct a dinosaur from fossils. In order to continue his work he could use one million dollars from a philanthropist for the museum. He is trying to meet with a connection for the money when he runs into trouble with Susan (Katherine Hepburn). Susan is extremely ditzy and after a few encounters with her, Huxley is totally frustrated, but she is enamored with him. Susan connives a way to get David away from his fiancé. A tame leopard is brought into the picture by her brother, and at the same time a wild leopard escapes the circus. Confusion and a search for lost bones keep the plot moving.
In many ways this movie should be a guide to budding screenwriters. One scene moves naturally into the next and everyone acts within character. The actors are all fantastic. May Robson as Aunt Elizabeth, Barry Fitzgerald as Gogarty, playing the same character he plays in The Quiet Man, Charles Ruggles as Major Applegate, George Irving as the lawyer, and of course, Hepburn and Grant. One wonders what Carole Lombard would have done with this role, but several times, you see just how good an actress Hepburn is. Cary Grant is completely believable as the paleontologist in over his head.
Some great dialog and very funny scenes populate this picture. Don’t worry too much about the audacious plot, just try and follow the witty repartee. However outlandish the story, it seems to unfold naturally, nothing is forced. Especially fun is the scene inside the jail. Watch as spacey Susan becomes “Swingin’ Door Suzie.”
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