On the Night of the Fire

On the Night of the Fire
The Fugitive
Opening titles
Directed byBrian Desmond Hurst
Written byBrian Desmond Hurst
Patrick Kirwan
Terence Young
Based on
On the Night of the Fire
1939 novel
by F. L. Green
Produced byJosef Somlo
StarringRalph Richardson
Diana Wynyard
CinematographyGünther Krampf
Edited byTerence Fisher
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Production
companies
Greenspan & Seligman Enterprises
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors
Release dates
  • 26 October 1939 (1939-10-26) (UK)
  • 22 July 1940 (1940-07-22) (U.S.)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

On the Night of the Fire (U.S. title:The Fugitive) is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Ralph Richardson and Diana Wynyard.[1] It was written by Hurst, Patrick Kirwan and Terence Young, based on the novel of the same name by F. L. Green. It was shot on location in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Plot

Struggling Tyneside barber, Will Kobling is in financial trouble. One evening, opportunistically and on impulse, he steals £100 from a factory where a window has been left open. He hopes the money will represent a new start for him and wife Kit. His hopes are dashed when Kit confesses to being in debt to the local draper, Pilleger, who has been pressuring her to settle it. Most of the stolen cash has to go on this.

Pilleger banks the money, only for the police to inform him that the serial numbers of the notes match those stolen from the factory. He professes himself an innocent party, claiming not to know which of his customers they came from, and the police have to let the matter drop. Pilleger blackmails Kobling, promising silence in return for £3 per week. Kobling is horrified at this indefinite burden, but feels obliged to consent.

Some time later, and facing the loss of his business through lack of ready cash, Kobling decides to challenge Pilleger. An opportunity presents itself when a fire breaks out, distracting the police and public. He confronts Pilleger and a fight breaks out, ending in Pilleger's death. The police suspect that Kobling is involved and use psychological tactics to break him down, but he remains grimly silent and sends Kit and their baby to stay with her sister.

Kobling was seen at Pilleger's store on the night of his murder by Lizzie Crane, a well-known eccentric, who talks about what she saw. The populace shun Kobling and call for justice, but the police do not believe Lizzie's word will stand up as evidence. As they continue to put pressure on him, Kobling approaches breaking point. He finally cracks when he is told that Kit has been killed in a road accident.

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Ralph Richardson gives a well-thought-out and interesting performance. He makes Will a pathetic and not wholly unsympathetic figure. Diana Wynyard shows again what an artist she is. She enters wholeheartedly into the spirit , of the part, and her Kit is a moving and beautiful study. This is a gripping and thought-provoking film, but it is not for those in search of light entertainment."[2]

Variety wrote: "With a straightforward story, it's the kind of film either liked very much, or very little. Intensely fascinating is the plot progression in the unravelling of a murder mystery. Picture, adapted from a novel, includes some circumstantial pictorial sequences cleverly substituted for descriptive writing. Ralph Richardson's performance as the harassed criminal is outstanding."[3]

Film critic David Quinlan described the film as "grim but gripping".[4]

Andrew Spicer, in European Film Noir, writes: "A riveting psychological study. With its sustained doom-laden atmosphere, Krampf’s expressive cinematography, its adroit mixture of location shooting and Gothic compositions and Richardson’s wonderful performance as a lower middle-class Everyman, On the Night of the Fire clearly shows that an achieved mastery of film noir existed in British cinema".[5]

References

  1. ↑ "On the Night of the Fire". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  2. ↑ "On the Night of the Fire". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 6 (61): 202. 1 January 1939. ProQuest 1305800325.
  3. ↑ "On the Night of the Fire". Variety. 136 (11): 14. 22 November 1939. ProQuest 1475992145.
  4. ↑ "Film Forum". Film Forum. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  5. ↑ Spicer, Andrew. European Film Noir. Manchester University Press, 2007, p.89 ISBN 0-7190-6791-X
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