The Flaming Urge

Wow, what an usual subject matter---fire bugs. Never seen a movie dealing w/ this subject before. I liked the innocence of it: the small homey town and some of the friendly caring people in the town, and the un-chain dept. store, and the lakeside picnic, and Robbie the dog---who is also a fire bug and sits atop fire hydrants at the scene of the fires he runs to. It's all so innocent and cute.

My brother-in-law asked me to help him find a copy of this and I did. Turns out that the film-maker filmed a lot of the movie in my brother-in-law's grandmother's house!!! How odd is that to watch a movie that was shot in the house you spent your summers in as a kid!!!!!!!!!!

Just finished viewing THE FLAMING URGE, primarily on the basis of the Alpha Home Entertainment cover description of Harold Lloyd, Jr. ("tormented by chronic alcoholism and masochistic homosexual urges"). One of the other reviewers here noted something that I picked up on about halfway through the film--the "flaming urge" is a 1950s code term for homosexuality. The protagonist is a young man, always neatly dressed (highlighted by a colorful bow tie), extremely polite, who must move from town to town because of his uncontrollable urge. He is unfamiliar with the normal male rituals of the period and is pretty much a loner. But everyone seems to know how to cure him - his urges will stop once he's married! An oddly amusing movie overall.

This classic was a mirror of male homosexuality in the late 1940's. Written by 'Ray Pierson' and directed by 'Harold Ericson' of Miramar productions. Neither ever directed or wrote another film.

Almost every line and image comes with double meaning - fire-chasing and homosexual urges.

Filmed in Monroe, MI - it depicts a very nice young gay man (Harold Lloyd Jr. - who was openly gay in real life) chasing his urges. If you catch all the double meanings, it is a very funny film.

Watched it again 7/2023 with a friend from Monroe, MI. He recognized some of the landmarks. It is much deeper than I realized in my first viewing. It covers much more about male homosexuality than I earlier realized. If you carefully follow each line's double-meaning, it is even deeper and funnier in the second viewing.

Watched it again 3/2024 with a group and got even more out of it. Notice that leading man Mr. Smith only gets the "flaming urge" when a new man comes to his tie counter. It is both groundbreaking and so entertaining in how it depicts the perception of male homosexuality in 1949 USA. Favorite lines: "Go and see Mr. Chalmers, he's probably planning a fire sale and wants your advice" and "I was watching you the other day at the fire, and you were not enjoying it"

9/2024 did much research on this gem. Released in 1953, it was actually filmed on location in Monroe, MI late 1949 - could not find the reason for the release delay. According to Michigan newspapers, it was financed by one Mr. Greening of the Monroe area. A few short months after the 1949 shoot, the director and producer were extradited and transported from California to Michigan for passing bad checks. Mr. Greening bailed them out.

Brilliantly written - both inciteful and belly-laugh funny at the same time. Worth seeing if you can find. This film is slowly gaining recognition as ground-breaking, but is not yet categorized as humor, satire, coming out, or whatever. The writing is a masterpiece of a masterful not-so-behind-the-scenes story travelling behind the front story.

This movie uses the pyromaniac urge as an extraordinarily transparent metaphor for homosexuality. While it's really not worth watching strictly on its merits as a film, as part of the history of hidden homosexuality and as an example of a "coded" film (easily translated), it's stupendous.