derlang

I watched Ball of Fire tonight, the 1941 Harold Hawks comedy with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, and got a pleasant surprise. There's a scene near the beginning of the film in which Cooper's character visits a nightclub where Stanwyck is singing. The band backing her is Gene Krupa's, and there's a sequence during one of her big numbers where Gene takes off on a frenetic drum solo. His face and his body movements reminded me very strongly of Elisha Cook's awesome scene in Phantom Lady.

Who should show up in the same nightclub scene as a waiter but . . . Elisha Cook, Jr.! I'll bet he was inspired in his Phantom Lady performance---three years later---by Krupa's scene in Ball of Fire! In fact, I wonder if the drumming in Phantom Lady was actually supplied by Krupa? Two enjoyable movies.

My family and I saw this July 16, 2005 in the newly refurbished Park Theatre in Vancouver. The theatre is owned by Leonard Schein, and I cite him because he makes a point of bringing local audiences good movies from everywhere, including Canada.

Hank Williams First Nations is excellent: funny, moving and thoughtful. One of the funniest running themes in the movie is the radio broadcasts of "The Old Man on the Mountain." Everyone stops what they're doing and LISTENS to his commentary. It's not knee-slapping funny, it's sweet funny, and every time he comes on (you never see him) everyone in the audience starts laughing even before he speaks.

Colin Van Loon, part-Cree and one of the stars of the film (he just turned 20) was on stage after the movie---again, a Leonard Schein idea---and answered questions from the audience. A nice folksy close to a nice and not always folksy movie.

Seek this one out, people. It'll stick with you.