---
title: "Fires Were Started"
year: 1943
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/fires-were-started"
fi1m_id: "fires-were-started"
imdb_id: "tt0035881"
tmdb_id: 84656
wikidata_id: "Q1418983"
fi1m_score: 85
critics_score: 81
critics_reviews: 4
published: "2026-09-25T03:18:54.069418+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-25T03:19:24.657970+00:00"
region: "UA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Fires Were Started (1943)

Directed by Humphrey Jennings · 1h 10m · Drama, War

## Identity

Fires Were Started

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/fires-were-started
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** fires-were-started
- **IMDb ID:** tt0035881
- **TMDB ID:** 84656
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1418983
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035881/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/84656, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1418983

**Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 81 (early) from 4 reviews

*In a sentence:* Seventy minutes with a fire crew, and the man at the piano stays with us

> Humphrey Jennings makes the companionship of a wartime fire crew quietly moving. We learn little about individual lives, but the performances and precise editing give us good reason to care about the men doing the work.

## Synopsis

During wartime, Walters (Phillip Wilson-Dickson), Dykes (George Gravett) and Johnny Daniels (Fred Griffiths) work among a crew of firefighters. Their job brings them into danger together and requires them to rely on one another. Away from the fires, the men spend time in each other’s company, and a fireman played by William Sansom sits at the piano. The story follows their shared working life, where the immediate task of fighting fires goes alongside the everyday business of getting along with the people doing the job.

## Review

*Fires Were Started* asks us to spend time with a fire crew and take their work seriously. Humphrey Jennings, who writes and directs, finds enough in their companionship to make a war drama without forcing every man to explain what he represents. We recommend it warmly, with a reservation about how little we learn of some individuals. At 70 minutes, it gives the group more attention than any single personal story.

Phillip Wilson-Dickson plays Walters, George Gravett plays Dykes and Fred Griffiths plays Johnny Daniels. They make a convincing company, and the pleasure comes from watching people become comfortable together without any performance demanding special attention. We believe that these men could depend on one another when they have to. Their ease together establishes that confidence, without making every exchange announce the importance of comradeship.

William Sansom’s fireman at the piano matters to this. We were moved by that ordinary pleasure among men whose work exposes them to danger. There is nothing grand about someone making music for company, and the film has the sense to let it matter without labouring the point. It becomes easier to care what happens to the firefighters once we have spent some undemanding time with them.

C.M. Pennington-Richards’s cinematography serves the crew well: the firefighting holds our attention without making the people doing it seem incidental. We remain interested in the men, even when there is plenty else to look at. Stewart McAllister’s editing is particularly good at sustaining that attention; the film has pace without treating time spent together as an interruption. We have room to register the relationships. That helps the firefighting remain free of melodrama while still giving us reason to worry.

William Alwyn’s music contributes to the feeling without overwhelming the men, though the piano player is what we remember most clearly. A more insistent score could easily have made this account of ordinary courage feel overbearing. The music leaves enough room for us to respond to the firefighters without feeling that admiration is compulsory. That restraint suits a film whose performances already give us much of what we need.

The limitation is that we sometimes want to know more about a particular man than the film has room to tell us. The cast convince us that lives extend beyond the job, but those lives remain lightly sketched. The choice makes sense for a short film about a crew, though we occasionally wished a conversation could continue beyond what it tells us about the group. The warmth does not quite remove that frustration.

As a war drama, it puts considerable trust in people doing necessary work together. There is courage here, but the director does not keep stopping to point at it, and the lack of fuss makes the danger more persuasive. Anyone looking for a single commanding hero may find the attention too widely shared. Give the quieter passages as much attention as the fires; the man at the piano has earned his place.

*Fi1m score 85, published 25 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Fires Were Started worth watching?**

*Fires Were Started* is warmly worth watching for its convincing fire crew and quietly moving companionship; we score it 85 out of 100. Its 70 minutes give more attention to the group than to individual lives, which can frustrate, but we find the ordinary pleasure of a fireman playing the piano as affecting as the danger of the work.

**How long is Fires Were Started, and what is it rated?**

*Fires Were Started* runs 1h 10m. It is a drama and war film.

**Where can I watch Fires Were Started in Ukraine?**

*Fires Were Started* is not on any streaming or rental service in Ukraine at the moment. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Fires Were Started, and is it suitable for children?**

*Fires Were Started* contains wartime firefighting and persuasive danger, but no UK or US certificate is supplied, so we cannot give a firm age recommendation for children. We find the threat affecting because we care about the crew, rather than because Jennings forces the drama; that danger is the main consideration for younger or sensitive viewers.

**How does Fires Were Started compare to The Wages of Fear?**

*Fires Were Started* is the better choice for quiet companionship, while [*The Wages of Fear*](https://film.one/film/the-wages-of-fear) suits those after a hard, patient thriller about dangerous work. We recommend both for their attention to men relying on practical skill and one another, but Jennings keeps the shared working life central, whereas Clouzot makes a truckload of nitroglycerine frightening, after a testing wait in town.

### Reviews we read (4)

- **The Guardian**, Derek Malcolm (95/100, inferred): Malcolm calls the film a masterpiece and praises its intimate, unsentimental portrait of wartime fire crews. He especially singles out the lifelike characters and the remarkably unmelodramatic firefighting scenes. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/feb/25/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm.derekmalcolm)
- **Empire**, David Parkinson (85/100, inferred): Parkinson considers the film an enduring, impeccably paced achievement. He praises its precise editing and poetic, authentic portrayal of ordinary firefighters facing danger together. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/fires-started-review/)
- **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (4/5): Parkinson regards it as one of the finest British Home Front films, praising its restrained simplicity. He singles out the firefighters’ convincing camaraderie and quiet heroism. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-o9xe1c/fires-were-started/)
- **Time Out**, RMy (64/100, inferred): The accessible page identifies this as a review but provides no critic's verdict. Its description singles out the film's near loss to Ministry of Information publicity cuts. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/fires-were-started)

## Details

- **Director:** Humphrey Jennings
- **Director:** Humphrey Jennings
- **Writer:** Humphrey Jennings
- **Cinematography:** C.M. Pennington-Richards
- **Editor:** Stewart McAllister
- **Music:** William Alwyn
- **Producer:** Ian Dalrymple
- **Cast:** Phillip Wilson-Dickson as Walters (uncredited); George Gravett as Dykes (uncredited); Fred Griffiths as Johnny Daniels (uncredited); Johnny Houghton as S.H. Jackson (uncredited); Loris Rey as J. Rumbold (uncredited); William Sansom as Fireman Playing the Piano (uncredited); T.P. Smith; John Barker
- **Runtime:** 1h 10m
- **First release (the UK):** 12 April 1943
- **Genres:** Drama, War

## Where to watch in Ukraine

Not streaming, renting or buying in Ukraine at the last check.

## If you liked this

- *Listen to Britain* (1942): Everyday wartime lives receive patient attention, with music doing much of the talking.
- *The Small Back Room* (1949): More wartime work under pressure, with closer attention to one troubled man.
- *The Wages of Fear* (1953), Fi1m 90: Men depend on practical skill and one another when dangerous work offers little mercy. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wages-of-fear.md)
- *The Firemen's Ball* (1967): A less reassuring fire brigade, observed through small vanities and mounting social embarrassment.
- *Dersu Uzala* (1975): Patient companionship and practical knowledge matter when the natural world becomes dangerous.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/fires-were-started