Some takes of Boston Fire feel very much like early cinematography. The camera captures the destructive impact of a catastrophe in long black-and-white shots. Smoke and water fill the screen and tiny firemen, seen as distant silhouettes, seem to fight an unwinnable battle against a major blaze. The filmmaker seems to be more interested in capturing the play of primal elements with his camera than documenting a catastrophe. So Boston Fire bewitches the audience with long meditative shots of immense, dark clouds before Hutton finally reveals the cause and shows a skeleton of a building.

Karl Wratschko