Truly Dreadful Film

terrible... so disappointed.

People are voting emotionally.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

If there is a movie I won't recommend, it is "The Flaming Urge". No strong cast, flat direction, very strange and boring story of a young man running after the fires. It happens in a little town, and everything is so calm, it seems completely amateur, like a movie shot by friends. Now, the question is : what I am gonna do with that print as I won't recommend it to anybody? Burn it (Ah Ah ...)? Total loss of time.

Just finished viewing THE FLAMING URGE, primarily on the basis of the Alpha Home Entertainment cover description of Harold Lloyd, Jr. ("tormented by chronic alcoholism and masochistic homosexual urges"). One of the other reviewers here noted something that I picked up on about halfway through the film--the "flaming urge" is a 1950s code term for homosexuality. The protagonist is a young man, always neatly dressed (highlighted by a colorful bow tie), extremely polite, who must move from town to town because of his uncontrollable urge. He is unfamiliar with the normal male rituals of the period and is pretty much a loner. But everyone seems to know how to cure him - his urges will stop once he's married! An oddly amusing movie overall.

A gem of a 50s film. The story concerns a mild mannered young man who cannot resist the impulse to chase fire trucks and firemen. In doing so, he risks losing his position as a clerk in a department store. After a few unexplained fires, his fellow townsmen come to believe he is an arsonist. The story was filmed entirely in Michigan and the film's unadorned presentation of small town America circa 1950 is appealing. A dog has a rather prominent part in the film and adds an unusual interest to the story. Harold Lloyd, Jr. is adept in his role and Cathy Downs is an attractive addition. The film is well worth a viewing.

This movie uses the pyromaniac urge as an extraordinarily transparent metaphor for homosexuality. While it's really not worth watching strictly on its merits as a film, as part of the history of hidden homosexuality and as an example of a "coded" film (easily translated), it's stupendous.