On the Night of the Fire, released in the United States as
The Fugitive, is a
1939 British thriller, directed by
Brian Desmond Hurst and starring
Ralph Richardson and
Diana Wynyard. The film is based on the novel of the same name by
F. L. Green. It was shot on location in
Newcastle upon Tyne and was released shortly after the outbreak of World War II. It is regarded as an early example of British
film noir, with the kind of subject matter and filming style which fell completely out of favour during the war years – when British studios felt that cinemagoers would want either light entertainment and escapism or topical patriotic propaganda pieces – and would not be taken up again until the later 1940s.