Where's That Fire?

Not since the 3 Stooges has the silver screen been invaded by three such goofy firemen. This movie is a scream from start to finish. Hay, Marriot and Moffatt man an outdated one-horse fire station in London as they try to hold on to their jobs after missing one too many fires. The scene where the three cause mass confusion when they try to insert a pole inside of their station is one of the finniest comic scenes I have ever seen before in a film. Even the simplest of tasks turn in to a messy madness and mayhem with Will hay leading the charge as the fire captain. It is a shame that this morning brought to a close the film career of this amazing trio of British comedians.

Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt star in yet another incredibly silly but very entertaining film. The trio worked well together for quite a few films and this just might be among their best. As usual, Hay is the lazy and larcenous boss and his two assistants are larcenous, lazy and perhaps stupider. So what do you do with these bumblers? Yep...you put them in control of a local fire station!! Not surprisingly, they don't seem to be able to do anything...except collect paychecks while shirking their jobs. The town council is, not surprisingly, quite upset and threaten to fire them--and Hay is determined to make good. But, their own MANY shortcomings get in the way and the audience is left wondering how they can salvage it all by the final frame. See the film and find out for yourself.

The movie has quite a bit to enjoy--such as the fire pole sequence and the silly beer-soaked ending. Clever and well done--the trio were awfully good in "Where's That Fire?".

This film is definitely up there with the best of Mr Hay's films, though I must say Will hay's best films only include Graham Moffet and Moore Marriot.

I'm I big Will Hay fan and for a twenty year old I think that says a lot for the these films. Where's that fire is is one of the very best Will Hay films but I'd say its pipped to the post by Oh Mr Porter which has to be the best but I'd say this is a close second.

It has the funniest scene in any Will Hay film, with the main trio trying to carry a fireman's pole across a busy London street is a simple idea but in this case it's inspired. Watch out for Charles Altrey as the annoying public school boy.

This film is rare I know 80 year old who hasn't seen it since the 40's so it's a crime that it isn't on DVD or in the Will Hay collection. But it's on ebay and other sites so if you look hard enough you'll find it and trust me its well worth the wait.

I was there on 11th June 1975 watching this broadcast on TV (and at prime time) for the first time after decades being a lost film. It's so good you can only marvel at the carelessness that must have been involved, Will Hay was one of the most popular British comedians of the time and yet could still be treated with such disdain.

It's another retread of the sublime Oh, Mr. Porter and even used the same sets as Ask a Policeman, this time Hay, Moffat & Marriott are firemen in a ramshackle fire station in rundown Bishop's Wallop. The idea is to modernise things and Hay is also looking for ingredient X to put into his revolutionary foam formula, but a gang of thieves get in the way. The scenes involving moving the station pole have to be the best, relentlessly hilarious and ridiculous stuff and an improvement on a similar scene in Jack's The Boy seven years previously. Climbing the walls of the Tower of London with Percy the horse was another classic bit, the slapstick climax giving way to a breathtaking and poignant exit from the three.

The one-liners between the three are fast and furious, their 6th and last film together - Hay moved on afterwards leaving Moffat & Marriott to sidekick for others. Of course not up to Porter's standards Fire is still a very funny family British pre-War b&w film.

Where's That Fire? Is directed by Marcel Varnel and jointly written by Marriott Edgar, Val Guest and J.O.C. Orton. It stars Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott and Charles Hawtrey.

The little town of Bishop's Wallop is home to a fire brigade, three stoic members of the community, Captain Viking (Hay), Jeremiah Harbottle (Marriott) & Albert (Moffatt). Trouble is is that they are completely inept and their record of putting fires out averages out at 1 in 17! Could Captain Viking's new foam formula save their jobs? Is it time that they got up to date and do away with their horse drawn engine? And is that really a film studio wanting to borrow their engine for a movie? The questions will be answered in chaotic fashion.

Where's That Fire? Would be Will Hay's last film for Gainsborough Pictures, it would also be the last film that the so called "holy trinity of the British studio system" (Hay, Marriott & Moffatt) would work together. Hay was growing tired of the film making process and started to feel that the comedy provided by the three men was formulaic, the material getting weaker by the picture. To that end, the film carries a tinge of sadness about it, while there is no doubt about it, Hay was right about the formula, because this is the little brother of the far superior Ask A Policeman that the trio made the previous year. Yet although it's not the grand comic masterpiece the three of them deserved to go out on, it's still a film chock full of one line zingers, crazy set-pieces and slapstick a go go.

The plot is standard stuff, serving only as a backdrop to the guys bumbling their way thru a number of situations that arise. But it's the execution from the guys that makes Where's That Fire? so much fun. In turn there's a riotous long sequence involving a fireman's pole, where the town inevitably comes to a stand still and chaos reins supreme, a scene where they attempt to put out a fire at a petrol station; only not with water, and the cracking finale that sees our "heroes" at The Tower of London involved in potential robbery and neck deep in Vilking's magic foam. Classic Hay, Moffatt & Marriott fare. Then there is of course the number of comic character interactions that come as part of the script, be it a man with bad foot laid up in bed, or the wonderful appearance of Charles Hawtrey as school swot Woodley (there's something refreshingly funny seeing Woodley getting kicked up the backside), it's simple comedy given a golden touch.

As this was also the first Gainsborough Film to be produced with 20th Century Fox's backing, the budget was a decent one, meaning that props, locations and extras were not in short supply. For example the model of The Tower of London that was used for the film's climax cost 300 guinea's to build, taking its creator, John Thorpe, six months to make. To think they let this motley bunch loose around it! While the antique fire engine used, pulled by Percy the Horse, can be seen as a cousin to Gladstone the shunt engine used in Oh Mr. Porter! (1937). Not only a damn fine comedy, then, but also a picture with good production values. Hay didn't like slapstick, he preferred the oral side of comedy, wisecracking, and he often complained that going into film's turned him into a slapstick comedian. Fact is, is that against his better judgement, and certainly against his plans, he was bloody good at slapstick. Where along with his two sidekicks he made a handful of truly great British comedy movies, Where's That Fire? rests neatly in the middle of that pack. 8/10