a classic comes to DVD
I love reading my Entertainment Weekly. I get seriously grumpy if it doesn't arrive in Friday's mail delivery, and if it doesn't show up by Saturday, meaning I have to wait until Monday, there are serious scowls around my house.
It showed up on time this week, which was good, because the bug I'm still fighting hit me early Friday afternoon. And I was overjoyed when I turned to the DVD section and found that one of my favorite movies of all time has -- finally -- been released on DVD.
"Ball of Fire" is a plucky little film from 1941 starring Barbara Stanwyck as Sugarpuss O'Shea, a nightclub singer (what else?), and Gary Cooper as Professor Potts, a gawky academic. Potts is researching American slang for an encyclopedia, and Sugarpuss needs to hide out from the police, who want her to testify against her gangster boyfriend. She hides out in the house where Potts lives with his encyclopedia gang -- and, of course, ends up falling for him.
The film is hilarious, especially for word people like me, and it's romantic and silly and sweet and fun, and oh, those '40s fashions. It's got it all, and I can't wait until my copy shows up in the mail. Hopefully it'll get here by Friday.