On the Night of the Fire

A film well worth watching similar in some ways to Odd Man Out about a man on the run and the working class life of a British city but without Carol Reed's cinematic flair. The acting was impressive, especially by Sir Ralph ,Diana Wynyard and Henry Oscar. And by the way the film was made for 1939 audiences not those in 2020.

This film is brilliantly directed by the largely forgotten Irish director, Brian Desmond Hurst, and brilliantly performed by its entire cast. But it is largely a 'downer', with its plot of the unremitting grinding of the wheels of Fate. It was filmed in 1939 and released in the spring of 1940. With entry into war, the British public no longer wanted tragedies but 'feel-good films', and they must have tried to forget this film, which was too much like reality to be comfortable. This film is really more like the post-War 'noir' films of America, where doom awaits. It must have been the last of the gritty 1930s British film dramas before the ultimate grit of the Blitz hit in 1940. The film is fascinating in many respects. It shows in intimate detail the life of a working-class urban community in Britain, in those last pre-War moments before most such communities were wiped out forever by German bombs. There are many wonderful location shots of the docks and streets of such areas, later reduced to rubble. For much of the film, I struggled to figure out which part of old London near the docks this could be, and thought I recognised a street near the wharves of old Lambeth (near the reconstructed Globe Theatre) which was only finally demolished about 20 years ago. But towards the end of the film, we are shown a shot of the unmistakable railway bridge hurting northwards across the river into Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and I realized this film must have been meant to take place at Newcastle. But no one in the film has 'Geordie' accents (the unmistakable accent of Newcastle folk). They all speak like Londoners except for Sara Allgood, who does her best to suppress her Irish lilt (she was a famous actress from the old Abbey Theatre in Dublin whom Hurst had directed in his earlier films 'Irish Hearts' of 1934 and 'Riders to the Sea' of 1935.) The young Glynis Johns, aged 17 and already in her fifth film, appears as a fey maid in this film. But the central performances are those of Ralph Richardson and Diana Wynyard, as a couple faced with a terrible dilemma. Wynyard is often of the verge of screaming hysteria in this desperate tale, but her stiff upper lip triumphs. Richardson was perfect for these parts as an introspective and worried husband, and was what you might call 'a steady presence on screen'. His great ability was to stand with the camera on his face and suddenly, as we watch, achieve 'realization' of something, with a nervous narrowing and slight twitching of his eyes. Henry Oscar is marvellously creepy as a miser who sits counting his money alone in his shop at hight, while listening to records of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. (The director makes good use of this, and a special shot featuring the gramophone, which is very effective, was later much copied by other directors.) This is an almost unbearably intense tragedy, thoroughly convincing, but it won't cheer you up, so be strong.

Will Kobling, a hard working barber, succumbs to a temptation that so many of us might given the right circumstances and sets in motion a devastating train of events. Brian Desmond-Hurst was not a great director but a very capable one and keeps the momentum going. The fickleness of the mob and the way in which gossip spreads like wildfire are very well depicted. This would be a far lesser film however and would not be nearly as effective were it not for the presence of Ralph Richardson as Kobling and Diana Wynyard as his adoring wife. They are both magnificent. Excellent cinematography by Gunther Krampf but the score by Miklos Rozsa is far too biblical. Judging by the preponderance of Cockneys one finds it hard to believe it is set on Tyneside!

I happened to catch this one on late night TV and was unable to switch it off and go to bed. The central character reminded me of Raskolnikov from Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' - how after committing the crime, his own guilt was more effective in punishing him than the efforts of the law.

While the acting tended to be very theatrical as was typical for the period, the camera work, sets and general appearance were above average and the plotting was tight and tension well maintained thoughout the film.

I gave it an 8.

Brian Desmond Hurst may have lived to 91 but he did not direct that many films - only 29. That said, THE FUGITIVE (aka On the night of the fire) remains one of his best and darkest efforts, rightfully ranking as one of Great Britain's earliest films noir.

Born in Northern Ireland, Hurst had the British authorities in 1936 prohibit his film OURSELVES ALONE from being shown because of its anti-British stance. The British government then banned his adaptation of Edgar Poe's TELL TALE HEART because it was "too horrible." So THE FUGITIVE attracted considerable attention from the British powers that be upon release... but got the approval certificate, despite being a tragedy of near Shakespearean dimensions.

Thankfully, Sir Ralph Richardson had a sound knowledge of, and flair for playing Shakespeare, so he delivers a performance that ranges from deadpan to love conveying eyes to a smile upon the death that releases him from a life robbed of happiness by his very surrender to the tempation of stealing.

Sir Ralph is ably seconded by Diana Wynyard as his devoted wife who, too, falls prey to the temptation of living beyond her means, prompting debts that she has to pay on pain of blackmail from the sinister figure of usurer Pilleger (brilliant show from Henry Oscar), a legally-backed businessman with a taste for classic music.

The law that Kobling (Sir Ralph) so wishes to avoid on the one hand, he takes into his other hand by taking Pilleger's life in an intelligently shot sequence to the tune of Pachelbel's Canon.

Superior cinematography from Gunther Krampf, born in the former Austro-Hungarian empire and with a background in German expressionism in films. The scenes with Henry Oscar and his gramophone are memorable.

The night of the fire of the original British title refers to a city fire that provides Kobling with an alibi, but deceit is something neither he nor his beloved wife can live with. Certainly no happy ending... but a honest one. 8/10.