The Fire Brigade (1926) User Reviews

The spiritual prequel to 2021's Capitolfest closer...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 31 January 2023]

...that being The Shield of Honor (1927, which was about a L. A. cop facing mandatory retirement at 65. A city's fire department is almost the O'Neil family business, employing the grandfather, father, and three grandsons. But the city is plagued by buildings built by a contractor who underbids everyone by cutting every corner--fires in these buildings claim two of the three grandsons. And when this contractor, secretly in league with the city's leading philanthropist, wins the contract to build a new orphanage, I felt like I was watching a Batman plot. Of course the philanthropist has a beautiful daughter, who falls madly in love with the youngest O'Neil grandson. Of course the newly opened orphanage catches fire when the paint plant across the street explodes. And of course young O'Neil and the city's other firefighters rescue all the young orphans, even as the shoddy building falls down around them. But this is a handsomely mounted production--the burning building sequences are impressively staged, and the big orphanage fire is further enhanced with red and orange hand coloring.

The scene of the orphanage burning and the orphans being rescued was in the 1980 documentary "Silent Hollywood" as an example of well made silent film, though just a programmer, that broke the stereotypes of silent films that are commonly held.

Rare, Enjoyable

[Maliejandra · 7/10 · 30 May 2014]

This film provides the contrast to a jerky, primitive print of Life of an American Fireman in the Hollywood documentary series, and ever since seeing that clip, I wanted to watch the whole film. That proved to be difficult until 2009 when it was shown at Cinevent.

Charles Ray stars as an aspiring fireman who has to go through extensive training and testing to achieve his goal. His sweetheart is May McAvoy whose father keeps many properties that he knows are fire hazards. The story plays second fiddle to the polished and impressive fire fighting scenes, including a whopper of a finale which is featured in the documentary. It isn't an amazing film and it might not live up to the hype that its rarity gives it, but it is undeniably entertaining.

The fact that this film is still so rare emphasizes the point in Hollywood that silent films with scenes as impressive as this one were a dime a dozen and that the general perception of the era is unfortunately severely distorted.

Charles Ray Is Excellent

[drednm · 12 December 2016]

This film chronicles a family of firefighters and a cooked contractor who builds firetraps.

Generations of O'Neils have proudly served as firefighters, with several men killed in the flames. Story starts with three brothers, all firefighters, working and living at home with their widowed mother and aging grandfather. They live and breath to fight fires. The problem is that there are so many of them. A local contractor is in league with a famed philanthropist to pay off the town council and win bids to erect shoddy public buildings.

As the youngest brother (Charles Ray) is about to finish his training and rookie status and join the force, a series of tragedies strike. He's also just met a girl (May McAvoy) who happens to be the daughter of the shady philanthropist. The O'Neils back the fire chief (DeWitt Jennings) in demanding the town council probe the building techniques being used, but of course the philanthropist has the political power. He also bans his daughter from seeing young O'Neil.

Trouble is surely brewing when the contractor (Holmes Herbert) wins the bid to build a new orphanage. Young O'Neil discovers the plans to cut corners, use cheap materials. and bypass firewalls and other safety methods. The finale showcases a spectacular fire and rescue attempts.

Charles Ray, pretty much forgotten today, is excellent as the headstrong firefighter. His character seems to be modeled on the wisecracker persona of William Haines. He's brash and silly, but in the end he is a hero. May McAvoy doesn't even appear until about 30 minutes into the film. She has little to do, even with a tacked on masquerade party which highlights her character. Holmes and Jennings are fine, and Eugenie Besserer is terrific as the mother. The spectacular fire scenes are quite memorable and superbly done. This is another film that should be on DVD.

Well told drama with real characters facing danger, being tested and exciting ending.

[Larry41OnEbay-2 · 10/10 · 16 October 2019]

The Fire Brigade casts our hero Charles Ray as the youngest in a large and rambunctious family of Irish-American firemen. These men are filled with laughter, the love of life and horse-play which balances out the danger they face when the alarm bell rings. Retired fire captain Grandpop O'Neil conducts a rookie school, complete with horse drawn a fire wagon which includes his grandson Terry (Ray). While his two older brothers busy themselves with extinguishing blazes, (their father had already died in a fire before our story began) Ray spends his time in training. Innocent Ray is stunned speechless by lovely May McAvoy, the daughter of a wealthy absentee landlord at a public event where firemen compete in feats to test their skill and bravery. The flame of love at first sight will soon smolder into a blaze as they spend more time together. McAvoy invites Ray to a society party and they soon confess their love to each other but her father's guilty conscience forces him to separate them. SPOILERS: The blaze in which one of Terry's brothers loses his life leads Fire Chief Wallace to suspect the building was flimsily erected by a contractor favored in bidding for city jobs. When he protests the contractor's working on a new orphanage, the chief is removed by the town political boss. But before the chief's last day he ask Terry to investigate the construction of the new orphanage which leads Terry to shocking discoveries and to tell the town's philanthropist (McAvoy's father again) of the shoddy construction. This dramatic scene contains several surprise punches this reviewer cannot reveal. Later, a gigantic fire sweeps the city, and Terry is called into action with the antiquated horse-drawn equipment. Ray makes a valiant rescue even though his brother, Joe, dies from the flames. The climax of The Fire Brigade is a spectacular conflagration, expertly blending authentic fire footage, double exposures, and flawless miniature work. As a bonus, the final scene boasts a bizarre vignette in which the ghosts of firemen killed in the line of duty urge Ray on to rescue a helpless child stranded on the roof! The thrilling shot from this film of the fire engines racing thru the streets of New York was extracted and used in the opening montage sequence used in the opening credits of every episode of the Kevin Brownlow documentary HOLLYWOOD (1980) a 13 part mini-series.

Their careers went up in flames

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 5/10 · 13 February 2003]

I viewed the Turner-Time/Warner print of this movie. 'The Fire Brigade' is a firefighting drama which also manages to be a piece of propaganda for firefighters ... as if these brave souls needed any spin control. There are several firemen characters in this film, and without exception all of them are depicted as brave, resourceful and selfless. No pyromaniacs or cowards, as in the later 'Backdraft'. The fire-fighting sequences are exciting and well-staged, often making the actors seem to be in genuine danger ... and the film-makers are clearly pleased to show these fictional firemen using the very latest (genuine) fire-fighting equipment, vintage 1926. I fear, though, that modern viewers would laugh at much of this equipment, which of course is primitive by modern standards. Also, this movie's soap-opera subplot considerably dilutes the excitement.

Charles Ray plays the latest in an Irish-American family of firemen. He's engaged to marry Helen Corwin (May McAvoy), the daughter of a wealthy building contractor. Unfortunately, her dad (Holmes Herbert) is a crook: he has knowingly committed safety violations in several of his buildings; this increases his profit but it also means the buildings are firetraps. You can see where this is heading. The final scene is exciting, with Ray trapped on a burning rooftop with a golden-haired little girl. Tom O'Brien is excellent as Ray's older brother, who is a member of the same fire brigade. DeWitt Jennings, an underrated actor, is splendid as the fire chief whose job is made more difficult by conniving politicians.

'The Fire Brigade' saddens me because of the fate of its leading players. The very beautiful blond May McAvoy and the handsome Charles Ray were both stars in silent films, but they plunged into obscurity very quickly when talking pictures arrived. May McAvoy was the leading lady in the early part-talking film 'The Jazz Singer', although she had no dialogue on the soundtrack of that movie. But soon she had to face the microphone: her talkie roles revealed that she had a lisp and an indecisive manner, and the sound revolution proved she wasn't much of an actress. The tragic course of her career is summed up perfectly by two of her credits: in the 1925 silent classic 'Ben-Hur', May McAvoy was the leading lady ... and in the 1959 remake of 'Ben-Hur', May McAvoy was a faceless extra in the crowd scenes.

Charles Ray's career followed a less spectacular version of the same arc. He was a star in silent films, usually playing good-hearted country boys. His voice proved unsuitable for talking films, and soon enough he was working as a dress extra, wearing a tuxedo in nightclub scenes. That's show biz, I suppose. I'll rate 'The Fire Brigade' 5 points out of 10.

THE FIRE BRIGADE-a forgotten silent film.

[CHARLIE-89 · 14 February 1999]

THE FIRE BRIGADE, though produced by M-G-M in 1927, is however, a film that is never viewed today. It is a great silent, starring May McAvoy. It was used in condensed form in Kevin Brownlow-David Gill's HOLLYWOOD (1980), but is never seen on television, let alone on home video. It is a forgotten silent film.