Billy Wilder's story 'From A-Z' which had already been filmed in 1941 as the excellent 'Ball of Fire' with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck gets a musical makeover in this 1948 remake of a group of professors writing an Encyclopedia of music and a gangster's moll hiding out in their foundation.
Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo and Steve Cochran are reunited yet again after appearing together in 1945's 'Wonder Man' and 1946's 'The Kid from Brooklyn' and this was the fourth and final pairing of Kaye and Mayo, (the other being 1947's 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). However, Kaye is no Gary Cooper, Mayo is no Barbara Stanwyck and Cochran is no Dana Andrews.
The main screenplay for the most part remains unaltered and is basically a word for word copy, except of course in this movie the professors are writing a musical Encyclopedia and not one on general knowledge so these aspects have been changed to fit this change.
Sadly this version lacks the spark that made the original so great and instead of a ball of fire, we get a hot water bottle at best.
However, we are treated to some great 1940's swing, big band and Jazz talent in the form of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Mel Powell, Charlie Barnet and Lionel Hampton, all masters of their craft and it's these musical interludes that are the ONLY reasons to watch this instead of the 1941 version as they are brilliant and fun to watch and will have your toes a'tappin.
Mayo's singing voice was dubbed by the ultra talented, yet sadly uncredited Jeni Sullavan and some Sullavan's other vocal recordings are well worth checking out.
However, Kaye doesn't have a single song in the movie, which is sad given that comedy songs and zany musical numbers were his main stock in trade. This was because he had recently split from his wife Sylvia Fine who was also the composer of all of his songs and she refused to write write for him and he didn't want anyone else composing for him. Thankfully, the split was only temporary and they reconciled soon after.
Howard Hawks who had directed the original returns to direct here, but he found this version difficult and disliked the finish product. Mary Field is the only returning performer from 'Ball of Fire' as the socialite Miss Totten , the same role she had played seven years before.
Not a bad film, but If you're in it for the plot and plot alone, watch the original. However, if you have a penchant for 1940's jazz and swing music, then give this one a try, those parts will give you a thrill at least even if nothing else does.
Enjoy!
