Went the Day Well? ***** (1942, Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Allan, Frank Lawton, Basil Sydney) – Classic Movie Review 5993

Director Alberto Cavalcanti’s 1943 British classic for Ealing Studios stars Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Allan, Frank Lawton and Basil Sydney.

It is a most compelling film of Graham Greene’s famous wartime warning fantasy story (The Lieutenant Died Last) about English villagers welcoming a platoon of soldiers billeted with them. But they discover that the soldiers are disguised German paratroopers who hold the villagers captive and occupy the village as an advance guard for a planned invasion. The villagers then fight back when the disguised Nazi soldiers attack – with the aid of traitors – under cover of being British troops on an exercise.

It chilled wartime audiences with its timely message – keep a look out for fifth columnist traitors in your midst, it is urgently saying.

But it is also credible, ideally handled, suspenseful entertainment with natural performances and a persuasive script laced with the odd spot of humour. It is also laced with a sharply realistic portrait of Brits facing confusion, sudden death and a need to kill.

Also in the cast are Valerie Taylor, Mervyn Johns, John Slater, Marie Lohr, C V France, Thora Hird, David Farrar, Patricia Hayes, Muriel George, Edward Rigby, Harry Fowler, Norman Pierce, Grace Arnold, Philippa Hiatt, Eric Micklewood, Johnnie Schofield, Ellis Irving, Hilda Bayley, Gerald Moore, Charles Paton, Norman Shelley, Arthur Ridley, Christopher Lee, James Donald and Janette Scott as a child.

It is written by Angus MacPhail, John Dighton and Diana Morgan, shot in black and white by Wilkie Cooper, produced by Michael Balcon and S C Balcon, scored by William Walton and designed by Tom Morahan.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5993

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