Ball of Fire (1941)

Fun Howard Hawks Screwball Comedy which uses Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as its template; if you haven’t figured it out with the introductory march thru the wooded park (no whistling, though), it even makes an explicit reference to the story not long after.

The last time I referenced Snow White was in my review of The Name of the Rose; but the Dolly Parton Christmas movie also comes to mind, as does a Spanish musical romance where the hermits were young men trying to develop a vermillion dye, (now I’m wondering if that was not a direct remake of this, but it’s so long ago I watched it, I can’t be sure,) which in turn also reminds me of Finian’s Rainbow where a commune is working on growing mentholated tobacco.

Eight encyclopedic scholars on a deadline (7+1, the group already includes Gary Cooper as the Prince Charming character,) take in a nightclub singer (Barbara Stanwyck) sought by the cops for questioning about her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews) with the intention of having her help on the entry for slang (lots of good stuff here, including the invented ‘Ameche’ standing in for ‘phone’.)

First, she simply intends to use them, but little by little is charmed by them (all have their own distinct, and carefully cultivated looks, quirks, and voices.)

When the gangster figures out that if he marries her, she’ll be useless to the D.A. he asks she join him, but along the trip to meet with him she realizes she’s fallen in love with someone else.

With Oscar Homolka, S. Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Aubrey Mather, Allen Jenkins and Dan Duryea.

A Gene Krupa musical number is a highlight.

Look for Elisha Cook Jr. as a waiter.