A Fire Has Been Arranged *** (1935, Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Alastair Sim, Robb Wilton) – Classic Movie Review 13,446

The 1935 British farcical comedy film A Fire Has Been Arranged stars vintage funnymen Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Alastair Sim and Robb Wilton.

Director Leslie S Hiscott’s 1935 British farcical comedy film A Fire Has Been Arranged stars Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, and Alastair Sim, along with Robb Wilton, Mary Lawson and Hal Walters.

The screenplay is by H Fowler Mear and Michael Barringer based on a story by H Fowler Mear and James A Carter.

A Fire Has Been Arranged is a pleasant-enough vehicle for Crazy Gang team leaders Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen, using what is now a stock plot about three criminals freed from jail going back ten years later to the field where they stashed their stolen gems, only to discover that someone has built a department store on it. So they take jobs at the store locate the loot.

Obviously, given the film’s title, they next become arsonists to burn the place down, but unexpectedly the owner/ managers of the store, (Alastair Sim as Cutte, C Denier Warren as Shuffle), are happy co-conspirators because the business has failed. However, there is someone else after the gems!

Then fresh and lively, this modest comedy thriller is now a small monument to these deservedly revered old Brit comics Bud ‘n’ Ches, Sim and Wilton. Along with the comedy, there are a couple of musical numbers, with the film ending in the sentimental song ‘Where the Arches Used To Be’, performed by Flanagan and Allen as a sequel to their popular theme song ‘Underneath the Arches’, as they head out on the open road.

Still generally pleasing and especially amusing in places, it spurred a series of Crazy Gang movies.

Next: Underneath the Arches (1937).

It was made by Julius Hagen Productions at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The cast

The cast are Bud Flanagan as Bud, Chesney Allen as Ches, Hal Walters as Hal, Harold French as Toby, Mary Lawson as Betty, Alastair Sim as Cutte, C Denier Warren as Shuffle, Robb Wilton as Oswald, Vincent Holman as ex-detective, Jack Vyvian as prison warder, The Buddy Bradley Rhythm Girls as shop girls.

A Fire Has Been Arranged is directed by Leslie S Hiscott, runs 72 minutes, is made by Twickenham Studios, is released by Wardour Films, is written by H Fowler Mear and Michael Barringer, based on a story by H Fowler Mear and James A Carter, is shot in black and white by Sydney Blythe, and is produced by Julius Hagen.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,446

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