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Went the Day Well? (1942)

Director: Alberto Cavalcanti

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6 reviews

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From Time Out London

Before and after the war, Ealing Studios was famous for one thing: comedy. But in 1942, with Europe overrun and Jerry glaring hungrily across the Channel, they turned their talents to more ‘important’ work, becoming, for a time, just one of the Churchill government’s many unofficial propaganda outlets. The film equivalent of a ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ poster, ‘Went the Day Well?’ concerns an attempt by a platoon of German paratroops to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming Nazi invasion by infiltrating a sleepy English hamlet, and the wily villagers’ valiant efforts to disrupt their plans.

It remains a jawdroppingly subversive and efficient piece of work, as former documentarian Alberto Cavalcanti establishes, with loving care and the occasional wry wink, the ultimate bucolic English scene, then takes an almost sadistic delight in tearing it to bloody shreds in an orgy of shockingly blunt, matter-of-fact violence. Still truly unnerving, one can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for audiences facing the very real threat of Nazi enslavement.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2081, July 8-14 2010

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User reviews of this film

Stan Godwin said...

Posted on Oct 27 2011 22:01 This is a classic wartime film it is normally shown once a year on the telly and is always rated 5 star. I first saw the film back in 1969 on BBC2 now I have got it on DVD

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pat carter said...

Posted on Sep 29 2010 04:10 I SAW THIS FILM IN 1943 AND RECALL ENJOYING IT ALTHOUGH REALISING IT WAS A PROPAGANDA FILM. i haven't seen it since but would like to, I amm sure many of the old wartime films would likely make me cringe

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Peter Woodman said...

Posted on Sep 11 2010 11:27 A great film, one that I have for many years urger others to see. I first saw it in 1949, 2 years after the War ended. I don't recall it being on general release in 1942 (I was 6½ years old in 1942). Years later the "Eagle Has Landed" appears to be a plagiarised version!

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Bara Evans said...

Posted on Jul 23 2010 22:50 This is a very silly review of a pretty silly film (which it's great that the BFI has rescued from the dust of the vaults). But it's an interesting document and no more. Germans with upper-crust English accents take over a classic English village in WW2 - and nearly get away with the deception (were it not for the odd bar of chocolate in their ruck-sacks saying "schokolade".) Interesting - but a master-piece it ain't.

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DaveO' said...

Posted on Jul 21 2010 19:19 Just saw this film on DVD here in Canada, after reading your reccomendation. It is truly a little gem! The credits indicate it was based on a Graham Greene story, and if you are a Greene fan, you should like it. Thank you, Time Out!

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E A Dobson said...

Posted on Jul 09 2010 17:40 Thanks Tom for recognising a classic british film.

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