The Flaming Urge
The Flaming Urge (1957) Rewatch? ❎
Sometimes even I have to ask myself “what in the sweet name of Peter Molyneux am I even watching here and why?” but today was not one of those days, for I know what I’m doing here. I’m watching the first thing I can be arsed reaching over to put on. Any mistakes and I only have myself to blame and call me Captain Wrongo but how could anyone resist a film called The Flaming Urge about a dude who has an issue that means they compulsively watch fires? I couldn’t. I was compelled to see how this film would play out by my own urge. The urge to watch every piece of tat I can find.
It’s awful, obviously. I spent way way too much time thinking they could remake this today but with Adam Sandler playing the lead role and that’s not the kind of thought people tend to want in their head, this was massively, massively distracting.
Still. I enjoyed the heck out of the film. The moments of sheer panic as the guy hears there’s a fire down the road but he can’t go, he’s on his last chance at his workplace and talking to an insurance salesman about wearing conservative ties instead of loud ones. The insurance salesman is having none of it tho, he likes his ties to scream. The way he’s taken under the wing of an older dude who, it turns out, also loves watching fires burn houses down. And oh, how he finds himself in trouble when buildings start burning down regularly and people know he’s the town fire chaser. This is life or death stuff. We all know this guy wouldn’t burn a house, he’s too ashamed of his compulsion to dirty himself like that so who did, who started the fires?
Someone else did! I hope I didn’t spoil anything there. Everyone lives happy burny after and I had a fantastic hour and a half of silly fire watching nonsense. Would watch again anytime.