The Third Alarm is a 1922 American silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson. FBO released the film in January 1923. The film's "All-Star" cast included Ralph Lewis, Johnnie Walker, and Johnson's wife, Ella Hall. Emilie Johnson, Johnson's mother, wrote both the story and screenplay. The Third Alarm was the second picture in Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO.
Dan McDowell was a veteran fireman and driver of a horse-drawn Fire Engine. The department motorizes the station's equipment. Dan cannot master the driving skills needed to operate the new motorized vehicles. The fire chief retires Dan with a small pension. Johnny, Dan's son, is studying to become a doctor. Dan supported his son's ambitions but could not keep his family and Johnnie's schooling. He takes a job digging ditches. Circumstances befall Dan, and he lives through various misfortunes. Johnnie, no longer able to afford medical school, works as a fireman. All storylines converge as a three-alarm fire breaks out. This Melodrama has a predictable happy ending.
Contents
Plot
The action starts when someone trips a remote Fire alarm call box. Then, the Fire station alarm bell clangs, and a fire dispatcher shouts, "We roll - third and western." All the firefighters jump into action, the doors swing wide, and the two horse-drawn fire engines race down the street to battle the fire. We pay particular attention to engine number seven, a steam pumper operated by an aging firefighter - Dan McDowell. McDowell has been a member of the force for two decades and drives engine number seven. He also maintains the fire station's five fire horses.
Mother McDowell is frosting Dan's birthday cake with the couple's daughter at the McDowell house, which stands caddy-corner from the fire station. Johnny McDowell joins the group. Johnny is studying to become a doctor and has only a year left. We meet Johnny's sweetheart, June Rutherford. Dan attends the party later in the day, but looks very downcast.
The battalion chief travels to the station house and informs the boys they intend to motorize the station. All the men applaud except Dan, who does not look too pleased. The day of the changeover arrives, and the fire crew watches as the new motorized steam pumpers drive in. Dan must learn to drive the motorized pumper truck but struggles to master basic driving skills. Unable to drive the new rig, the chief retires Dan McDowell on a small pension. Later, the chief sells the five fire horses.
Dan's foremost concern now is Johnny's medical career. Dan tells Johnny he has not saved enough money to support his medical studies. Johnny tells his father not to worry because his sweetheart is the daughter of a famous surgeon - Dr. Loren Rutherford. Dan tells Johnny that his brother got ill when he was a young father. The boy's physician told Dan that only one man could save the boy - Dr. Loren Rutherford. Dan storms into Dr. Rutherford's office and pleads with the Dr. to save his boy. Dr. Rutherford says he cannot save Dan's son because he must save another life first. Dan tells Johnny he will never forget that Dr. Rutherford let his young brother die.
To make ends meet, Dan takes a job as a ditch digger. While working one day, he feels Bullet nuzzling against him. Bullet had been pulling a dirt wagon but, upon catching sight of his old handler, paid a visit. Bullet's overseer sees what his horse is doing. He walks over to the animal and starts mishandling the poor horse. Dan attempted to stop the supervisor's abuse, but the supervisor overpowered him. Johnny chances upon the altercation and thrashes Bullet's handler. He then warns the supervisor about further abuse and suggests that Dan seek a new job. Johnny realizes there is one way to ease Dan's financial burdens. He drops out of medical school and applies for a job at the fire station. The chief knows Johnny and makes him a firefighter. The next day, the police arrive at the McDowell household. They claim a fire horse is missing and blame Johnny. The police have a search warrant and find "Bullet" in Dan's shed—the police demand to know where Johnny is. To save his son the embarrassment, Dan confessed to the crime. They promptly sent him to jail.
Cast
The cast of this film used several of the same actors who appeared in In the Name of the Law.
Production
Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) was an energetic, independent American silent era film studio. The company released around 110 features and shorts a year. The company focused on producing low-budget films emphasizing first-class westerns, action films, romantic melodramas, and comedy shorts. The company mainly distributed its pictures to small-town venues and independent theater chains, which changed their pictures three times a week. FBO would make their pictures appeal to every member of the American family.
The average cost per FBO production was $50,000 to $75,000 equivalent to $961,730 to $1,442,594 in 2021 compared to the Major film studios which could spend five times as much to produce a movie.
FBO also produced and distributed a limited number of big-budget features labeled "Gold Bond" or "Special" productions.
Pre production
A real estate dealer's misfortune allowed Emory Johnson to purchase a five-story apartment building on the outskirts of Los Angeles for a reasonable price. The city had condemned the building as a fire trap. To film the burning-building sequences in The Third Alarm, the building was set ablaze. The fire was under the Los Angeles fire department's supervision and used a dozen companies of professional firefighters and scores of equipment.
Emory Johnson would shoot this movie on location in Los Angeles, California. The studio location, coupled with the fact that LAFD was the largest fire department globally, had a sizable contingent of retired fire horses and would allow the use of scrapped steam engines in the movie to lend itself to a symbiotic relationship. In 1911, the LAFD had 25 horse-drawn steam fire engines and 163 horses. 1911 was the last year they remained in service and the first year of motorized apparatus on the LAFD. The phase-in of motorized equipment would continue until the previous fire horse was retired in 1921.
While standing on a street corner in downtown Los Angeles, Emory Johnson and his mother watched the annual Elk 's parade. Apart from the parade, the pair was struck by the appearance of the LAPD 's fire horses. This parade would be the fire horse's last appearance in public. The horses had all been replaced by motorized vehicles. All were retired from service and put out to pasture. But the fire horses represented a small part of a broader canvas to the Johnsons.
It occurred to them; the horses symbolized a changing of the guard. The idea for a motion picture took root.
Ralph Lewis (1872–1931) was born on October 8, 1872, in Englewood, Illinois. The 50 year-old actor landed the leading man role in this production. He played a rugged middle-aged Firefighter, Dan McDowell. He was previously the leading man in the Johnson production – In the Name of the Law. He would have future starring roles in Johnson vehicles, including The Mailman and The Last Edition. The Last Edition was Lewis's fifth and final film in a Johnson production.
Lewis's film debut came in 1911. Lewis appeared in 160 films between 1912 and 1938. Lewis will always be remembered for his role as abolitionist U.S. Representative Austin Stoneman in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) and the governor in Intolerance (1916). The June 5, 1923, edition of the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News observed: "Ralph Lewis, is especially good in parts built upon strength of character ..."
Filming
This movie was filmed on location entirely in Los Angeles, California, and had the complete cooperation of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The LAFD furnished equipment, old-style firefighting apparatus, and large firefighting workforce to assist Emory Johnson in making this movie.
The film schedule according to Camera! "Pulse of the Studios". This schedule traces a film's evolution from Cradle-to-grave. This film started shooting in July 1922 and was In The Can October 1922. The timetable gives the studio and location as — R. C. Picture Corp located at Melrose and Gower.
The section also displayed the column headers and entries for this film:
When films enter production, they need the means to reference the project. A Working title is assigned to the project. A Working Title can also be named an Alternate title. In many cases, a working title will become the release title.
Working titles are used primarily for two reasons:
An official title for the project has not been determined
A non-descript title to mask the real reason for making the movie.
The working title for this film is listed as The Discard or The Discard. Filming started on The Discard in July 1922. This time period would coincide with the July 9, 1922, premiere of In the Name of the Law. Based on the Camera! magazine's shooting schedule, the title of the film The Discard was changed to The Third Alarm between September and October 1922.
The title The Discard is sometimes confused with its companion film In the Name of the Law. An alternate title for In the Name of the Law was incorrectly listed on some websites as The Discard.
Post production
This film is the second production under Emory Johnson's F.B.O. Contract. Johnson would start working on his next film - The West~Bound Limited, in December 1922. That film would feature a train engineer and star Ralph Lewis. In the years to come, Johnson would glorify mail carriers, newspaper press operators, more train engineers, police officers, Army aviators, and members of the US Navy.
In January 1923, a new Fireman's song by Johnnie Tucker was copyrighted. In April 1923, Okeh Records cut a recording by the Fire Department of New York and Rega Dance Orchestra. The song was composed by Johnnie Tucker with lyrics by Bartley Costello and featured John Stewart, a boy soprano, singing "A fire laddie (just like my daddy)."
The composer, John Tucker, had been an officer of the New York Fire Department for several years. He played both trombone and piano for the Fireman's Quartet, and due to his background, he composed the song for the motion picture The Third Alarm.
Release and reception
Several websites assert the film's first showing was in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 25, 1922. These references are based on American Film Institute listing and confirmed by a movie advertisement in the Cleveland's The Plain Dealer. Other references state the promotional materials for the film wouldn't be ready until the first week in January 1923.
On December 31, 1922, the film was copyrighted to R-C (Robertson-Cole) Pictures Corp with the registration number LP18553. The FBO Film copyrights were registered with original British owners. FBO was the official name of the film distributing operation for Robertson-Cole Pictures Corp. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. would clear this up later
New York premiere
Film Booking Offices of America booked The Third Alarm into prestigious 1,131 seats Astor Theatre in New York City for a four-week run starting on Sunday, January 7, 1923. This was a considerable investment for F.B.O. This "Theatrical Rental Arrangement" cost F.B.O. $6,000 (equivalent to $115,408 in 2025) a week to rent the theatre.
According to Variety, ticket prices for the Astor performances ranged from $1.00 for matinee and $1.50 for evenings (Normal prices for the Astor). The magazine also observed the four-week run was generally a success. The first week generated $7,800, "including a tie-up with the fire department for the pension fund." For the third week, Variety stated - "Not pulling, but being run for the advertising that it gets." The last week, the magazine stated, "Forth, and final week, the picture just got by, doing something less than the general expense of the house and advertising, little under $5,000. F.B.O. presented a more nuanced view of the New York run touting the run as a resounding success.
On Monday, January 29, 1923, a Los Angeles Fire Department engine clanged up and down the thoroughfares, finally stopping at Sid Grauman Million Dollar Theater on Broadway. The theater had a capacity of 2,345 seats. The people following the engine soon discovered the advertising ploy was directing people to watch the movie house's latest feature – The Third Alarm. Sid Grauman had rented the blockbuster film for two weeks. The fire engine stunt would be used effectively nationwide to advertise the movie, always with the local fire department's full cooperation. The promotional photograph on the right shows Emory Johnson supporting his film showing at the Sid Grauman Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles.
The film then continued to be shown in theaters across the country. Of the hundreds of moviehouse reviews published in the film magazines of the time, one can hardly find a negative review.
Official release
The film was officially released on January 7, 1923, by Film Booking Offices of America.
Advertising
In August 1922, a convention of the International Association of Fire Engineers was held in San Francisco. During the convention, the fire chiefs were introduced to director Emory Johnson and his wife, Ella Hall. Emory and Ella were promoting a new film titled The Third Alarm. The film was still being edited, but Emory Johnson could show two reels of the movie to assembled chiefs. The chiefs were impressed with the film's accuracy in depicting firefighting techniques. This was the first promotion of the film four months before the release date. F.B.O. implemented the same advertising strategy they used in promoting In the Name of the Law. Before this film was released, FBO stated it had 100 letters from fire chiefs around the country. The chiefs said they would fully support the showing of this film in their cities.
In the world of film, the word exploitation has devious connotations. However, a vast difference exists between an Exploitation film and exploiting a film. In the 1920s, the F.B.O. concept of film exploitation meant creating local tie-ins with the particular working-class or public servants portrayed in the film. In the case of The Third Alarm, it meant establishing contact with the fire department in the local venue before the film arrived in the city. An F.B.O. agent, if available, and the theater owner would work hand-in-hand in developing an exploitation strategy for the film. This usually meant developing a relationship with the local fire chief. In turn, the chief would realize the benefits of promoting the movie and record his endorsement. This support could include the chiefs speaking to local newspapers and providing fire equipment to attract paying patrons to the movie theater.
Many local Fire departments gave the movie free advertising by staging various displays. A typical example of this promotion is dusting off old firefighting apparatuses, hitching up horses and clamoring down the street, bells clanging, and ending at the local theater. Small crowds might follow the equipment to the theater, hoping to glimpse the fire. Other stunts might include parking old museum pieces in front of the theater, appreciation parades, and women jumping off buildings. Anything was fair game if it drew potential movie ticket purchasers to the work of local firefighters and built up a need to see them in action on the silver screen. Another strategy to get the firefighters on board with the advertising was to donate a portion of each ticket price to the fireman's pension fund. This was the same scheme used in In The Name of the Law.
If the theater owners had questions about exploiting this movie, FBO would provide a 22-page newspaper-size campaign book. (See the Campaign book pictured above) As the article stated, hundreds of these were mailed out while the movie was still premiering at the Astor Theatre.
Reviews
Movie reviews were essential perspectives for theater owners and fans. Reviews of movies printed in various trade magazines were indispensable in deciding whether to book or watch the film. When critics had contrasting reviews, choosing whether to see or book the movie can be challenging, especially since discordant reviews do not mean it is necessarily a bad movie. Ultimately, it boiled down to personal choices and how much value you place on the movie review and the reviewer. The movie received positive reviews. Most small-town and large-city venues enjoyed the movie.
Melodrama films have plots appealing to the raised passions of the audience. They concentrate on family issues, direct their attention to a victim's character, and develop the themes of duty and love. The melodramatic format shows the characters working through their struggles with persistence, sacrificial deeds, and courage. Movie critics and theater owners often use the following expressions to describe the movies they are reviewing or showing.Terms used in reviewing silent movie melodrama
In the January 14, 1923 issue of The Film Daily, the reviewer points outAn almost inexhaustible supply of fine thrills in a picture dedicated to firefighters; sure-fire box office picture of its kind.
There is a very definite box office value in the picture because it supplies a new line of thrills and the sort of action and atmosphere that will certainly make it a popular number with the big majority of picture goers throughout the country
In the January 20, 1923 issue of the Exhibitors Trade Review, the reviewer states
A stirring melodrama, replete with heart interest, whirling action, and stark realism, "The Third Alarm" registers as a unique attraction destined to win widespread popularity. That photography is immense goes without saying. The shots of fighting the flames are of quality that entitles the cameraman to unstinted credit, better stuff of its kind has never been screened.
The picture fairly throbs with spectacular views, the brigade swinging with frantic, Furious speed through the streets, fire laddies battling desperately against the devouring elements, the red blaze bursting across surging banks of smoke, walls tottering and crashing....
Box Office
Johnson would claim in May 1932, he made "that picture for $40,000 (equivalent to $769,384 in 2025), and it grossed one million two hundred thousand (equivalent to $23,081,511 in 2025)." The film would become the most financially successful movie ever produced in Emory Johnson's career. The movie earned Johnson an estimated $275,000 (equivalent to $5,289,513 in 2025).
Accolades
In the Film Year Book 1922-23 (The 1922-23 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures) The Third Alarm is named one of "The Forty Best Pictures of the Year" as "Selected by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, from productions reviewed from December 1921 to December 1922."
Preservation status
The majority of silent films did not survive.
According to the Library of Congress website, this film has a status of - "incomplete copies of this film exist in Gosfilmofond of Russia Moscow, UCLA Film & Television Archive Los Angeles." Other web sites claim complete copies exist at the UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles.
John Reid states in his book: "By cobbling together the best footage from multiple 16mm prints", a restoration service assembled a tinted presentation of the film." He also claims, "sources differ as to whether the original theatrical version had six or seven reels." This five-reel version is now available on DVD . . . " Reid also discusses the controversy regarding the length of the film's original theatrical release.
The Library of Congress's publication - Catalog of Copyright Entries, shows two entries:
The Performing Arts Database of the Library of Congress states - 7 reels; 6.700 ft. as does the "AFI CATALOG OF FEATURE FILMS." The restored versions available on YouTube run between 57 – 59 minutes, i.e., approximately five reels (11 minutes per reel). Thus, the restored versions are missing minutes in the film's original theatrical release. The exact time difference between the initial release and the restored version is lost to time, but the main story points have survived.
The restored film is in the public domain and available on YouTube. The film is also available on DVD and is widely available from multiple vendors.