Ball of Fire

Eight professors have been writing an encyclopaedia for years with almost no contact with the outside world. When the linguist Bertram Potts realises he has to write the entry on current slang he goes out, and hears Sugarpuss O'Shea performing in a nightclub. Sugarpuss is dodging the police because of her mob-connected boyfriend and takes shelter in the professors' house. Eight men and one woman living together builds both the comedy and the romance. Howard Hawks directed. Gary Cooper plays Potts and Barbara Stanwyck plays Sugarpuss. Billy Wilder is on the screenplay. He also watched Hawks work on set and decided afterwards to direct his own scripts. The story draws partly on Snow White, with the professors loosely corresponding to Disney's dwarfs. Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard were considered first; when both declined it was Gary Cooper who suggested Stanwyck. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 100 percent with an 8.2 average. It received four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Stanwyck. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2016. Who it is for: viewers who like fast-talking forties comedy and Barbara Stanwyck. Who it is not for: anyone uneasy that the woman is built entirely on sexual appeal. The film keeps Sugarpuss on that axis throughout.