Gryr i Norden laget i 1939, om den første og største kvinnestreiken i Norge. Selve filmen er et av Norges tidligste og største filmbidrag til arbeiderbevegelsen i Europa.
When the match workers went on strike on the morning of 23 October 1889 at Bryn and Grønvold Tændstikfabriker in Kristiania, it was the first major women's strike in Norway. Norway came to play a pioneering role in Europe with its production of workers' films. In the period 1928 to 1939, approx. 30 films, of which three feature films with Olav Dalgard as director. In Gryr i Norden, his last and most completely cast film, he wanted to portray the "firestick girls" strike as accurately and historically correct as possible.
