The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss |
Original title | Ball of Fire |
Country of production | United States |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1941 |
length | 111 minutes |
Rod | |
Director | Howard Hawks |
script |
Billy Wilder , Charles Brackett |
production | Samuel Goldwyn |
music | Alfred Newman |
camera | Gregg Toland |
cut | Daniel Mandell |
occupation | |
| |
The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss , also known as the Whirlwind of Love (Original title: Ball of Fire ), is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck . A story by Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder , who was also involved in the script, served as a template .
action
For years, a group of professors have lived in a house isolated from the outside world, working on an encyclopedia on human knowledge. The youngest among them, Professor Bertram Potts, is a linguist who specializes in researching American slang . When Miss Totten, the publisher and financier of the encyclopedia, gets impatient and asks the professors to finish their work as quickly as possible, Bertram goes on an independent tour of the city. In a night club, the professor becomes aware of the very colloquial vocabulary of the variety dancer Sugarpuss O'Shea.
At first Sugarpuss is unwilling to support Bertram in his research, but when she has to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, gang boss Joe Lilac, she quartered in the house of Bertram and his seven colleagues. With her unconventional manner and her carefree attitude, she quickly wins over the scholars. She is also increasingly taken by the unworldly gentlemen and wants to bring a little more momentum into her life. She teaches her how to dance the conga and shows Bertram what the expression “yum yum” (meaning “delicious”) means by kissing him.
After her Bertram has proposed marriage, which she accepts, Sugarpuss is kidnapped by Joe's followers, because Joe wants to marry her too, but only so that she does not have to testify against him in court. However, Bertram and his colleagues manage to outsmart Joe and free Sugarpuss. When Sugarpuss finally doubts that he is good enough for Bertram, he convinces her with his enthusiastic interpretation of “yum yum”.
background
The plot is based in part on the German fairy tale Snow White , with the individual characterizations of the professors based on the seven dwarfs from Walt Disney's cartoon adaptation Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Perry Ferguson was responsible for the film construction. Edith Head designed the costumes .
The Strange Taming of the Gangster Bride Sugarpuss premiered in the United States on December 2, 1941 and proved to be a huge box office success. In Germany, the film was first shown on television on May 24, 1976.
Director Howard Hawks filmed the script again in 1948 under the title The daring rescue of the gangster bride Honey Swanson .
Awards
The film was nominated in four categories at the Academy Awards in 1942 : Best Actress (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Original Story (Thomas Monroe, Billy Wilder), Best Score (Alfred Newman), and Best Sound (Thomas T. Moulton). However, the nominees could not prevail against the competition. In 2016 the film was in the National Film Registry added
Reviews
"Sometimes a breathless, fast-paced screwball comedy with well-humored actors," said the lexicon of international films . The comedy is sometimes "close to the slapstick, but always amusing entertainment". Cinema described the film as a "screwball classic with great dialogues".
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said at the time that Gary Cooper was "a little shaky" in his role at times, but still delivered a "simple idea", "as only he can deliver it". Barbara Stanwyck is "absolutely delicious in her role of the urbane seductress". Crowther also praised the production for being "excellent" and directed by Howard Hawks, who "kept it going at the right pace for almost two hours."
Variety stated that the film was built on just "a simple gag". The “funny initial situation”, however, is “sufficient to provide a few laughs”, for which the “slang like from the gun” within the dialogues also provides. The cast is "so apt and perfect" that "each character becomes a caricature of himself".
German version
A first German dubbed version was created in 1973 for ZDF at Berliner Synchron based on the dialogue book by Franz-Otto Krüger , who also took over the dubbing direction. In 1982 the film was re-dubbed for ARD by Berliner Synchron. The dubbing was directed by Dietmar Behnke based on the dialogue book by Lutz Arenz .
role | actor | Voice actor 1973 | Voice actor 1982 |
---|---|---|---|
Prof. Bertram Potts | Gary Cooper | Lothar Blumhagen | Hartmut Reck |
Sugarpuss O'Shea | Barbara Stanwyck | Beate Hasenau | Gisela Fritsch |
Prof. Gurkakoff | Oskar Homolka | Holger Kepich | Horst Schön |
Prof. Jerome | Henry Travers | Erich Fiedler | Toni Herbert |
Prof. gastric break | SZ Sakall | Gerd Duwner | Wolfgang Völz |
Prof. Robinson | Tully Marshall | Ernst Wilhelm Borchert | Eric Vaessen |
Prof. Quintana | Leonid Kinskey | Horst Gentzen | Friedrich G. Beckhaus |
Prof. Oddly | Richard Haydn | Friedrich W. Building School | Friedrich W. Building School |
Prof. Peagram | Aubrey Mather | Paul Esser | Hans W. Hamacher |
Joe Lilac | Dana Andrews | Christian Brückner | |
Duke pastrami | Dan Duryea | Peter Thom | Ulrich Gressieker |
Asthma Anderson | Ralph Peters | Wolfgang Völz | Karl Schulz |
Housekeeper Miss Bragg | Kathleen Howard | Gudrun Genest | Christine Gerlach |
Miss Totten | Mary Field | Eva Katharina Schultz | Eva-Maria Werth |
Larsen | Charles Lane | Harry Wüstenhagen | Peter Matic |
McNeary attorney | Charles Arnt | Christian Rode |
Web links
- Ball of Fire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ball of Fire at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Ball of Fire at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss in the All Movie Guide (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. omovie.com
- ↑ The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 9, 2019 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ “Mr. Cooper may be a little loose-tooth in spots, but he gives a homespun performance such as only he can give. Miss Stanwyck is plenty yum-yum in her worldly temptress role. [...] The production is excellent, and Howard Hawks has kept the whole thing moving at accelerated pace for nigh two hours. " Bosley Crowther : "Ball of Fire" a Delightful Comedy, With Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in Lead Roles, Opens at Music Hall . In: The New York Times , January 16, 1942.
- ↑ “A simple gag […] one funny situation […]. It's sufficient, however, to provide quite a few chuckles. […] Much of the dialog is rapid-fire slang, […] but frequently good for laughs. Casting is meticulously perfect to make every character a caricature of itself. " See Ball of Fire . In: Variety , 1941.
- ↑ cf. Synchronized version 1973 on synchrondatenbank.de
- ↑ The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ cf. Dubbed version 1982 on synchrondatenbank.de
- ↑ The strange taming of the gangster bride Sugarpuss. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 2, 2020 .