The Siege of Sidney Street

Cast

Production

Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, recalled "The scene in the blazing room we filmed in the studio and I was vastly intrigued to watch the way the special effects department created the illusion. They began by making everything on set completely fireproof. They then spread an inflammable jelly over the sections that were seen to be burning and just before "Action" it was set alight. Tables and chairs and curtains blazed away and at the end of the scene the flames were extinguished ready for the next Take. It was remarkable. Nothing was damaged. Leonard Sachs, playing Svaars (uncredited) was left in the room with the revolver; his clothes had also been fireproofed and in the long-shot flames licked from the jelly which had been put on his back. For the next shot, his close-up, he was having the jelly placed strategically on his shoulders and arms. I was talking to someone in the crew when another of the crew approached and whispered to his colleague 'Have they fireproofed his hair?' 'No, I don't think they have. It would take 20-minutes.' I was later informed that had Leonard suffered any damage, the insurance company would have paid up, but twenty minutes of the crew's time, on an hourly rate, merely to fireproof an actor's hair would have had to have been paid for by the film company. Thankfully Leonard only suffered mild burns to his hair and scalp!"