Live accompaniment by Music Box house organist Dennis Scott | Programmed and co-presented by the Chicago Film Society  Are you a soldier in the Army of Peace or a weasel-faced chair-warmer? That’s the central question posed by The Fire Brigade, M-G-M’s extra-patriotic ode to civilian firefighters, which the studio sold as a spiritual follow-up to its World War I epic, The Big Parade. Three generations of Irish American men in uniform serve their country in a sleepy firehouse on the edge of town, where the aged Pop O’Neil (Bert Woodruff) dreams of showing up the new-fangled motorized engines with his loyal trio of veteran horses. His grandson, Terry (Charles Ray), still has a lot to learn about the family trade—if only he can keep his eyes on the prize of selfless sacrifice, which becomes much harder after he meets Helen (May McAvoy), the daughter of a prominent local builder and philanthropist. An action movie with an unusual social conscience, The Fire Brigade alternates relentless stunts with fiery denunciations of municipal graft. This five-alarm spectacle is further enlivened by a pair of recently restored color sequences: a flash of two-color Technicolor and a climactic use of the Handschiegl process that illuminates the flames of a burning orphanage. Preserved by The Library of Congress and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. | 35mm from Library of Congress Preceded by: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in “Fiery Firemen” (Rudoph Ising & Friz Freleng, 1928) – 7 min – 16mm