The Bells Go Down

The film is about the Auxiliary Fire Service that ran to the fires in London during the Second World War. Through the nights of the bombing this crew, made up largely of ordinary volunteers, kept the city from burning. The story is set in the east end of London and gives the tie between the neighbourhood and the fire station. The comedian Tommy Trinder is not trying to be funny here; he plays the part straight. Shot in 1943 while the war was still on, the film is openly built as a tribute to these people. Heroism is not enlarged; it is told through the work itself. James Mason, Mervyn Johns and William Hartnell are also in the cast. Basil Dearden’s eighty nine minute British film was completed in 1943.