Went the Day Well?

Infobox_Film
name = Went the Day Well?


director = Alberto Cavalcanti
writer = Graham Greene (story)
John Dighton
Angus MacPhail
Diana Morgan
starring = Leslie Banks
Mervyn Johns
Basil Sydney
C.V. France
Valerie Taylor
Thora Hird
David Farrar
music = William Walton
producer = Michael Balcon
distributor = Ealing
released = 1942
runtime = 92 m
country = UK
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0035429

"Went the Day Well?" is a British war film produced by Ealing Studios in 1942. It tells of how an English village is taken over by German paratroopers. Made during the war itself, it reflects on the greatest potential nightmares of many Britons of the time.

Plot

During the Second World War a group of British soldiers arrive in the small, fictitious English village of "Bramley End". At first they are welcomed by the villagers, until doubts begin to grow about their true identity and purpose. When it is discovered that they are in reality disguised German soldiers intended to form the vanguard of a German invasion of England, the occupants of the village are rounded up and held prisoner in the local church. They attempt to escape to warn the local Home Guard, but are betrayed by the village squire, who is revealed to be a German spy. The German soldiers then ambush and kill the Home Guardsmen. Eventually one of the villagers succeeds in escaping and alerting the army. British soldiers arrive, and aided by some members of the village who have also managed to escape and arm themselves, a gun battle ensues in which the Germans are defeated.

The film is set in the future after the war and told in flashback by a villager (Mervyn Johns) sitting in the churchyard where the German soldiers are buried. He speaks directly to the camera, which, during the opening credits, moves towards the village along a road, as if it were the point of view of a visiting motorist. The tourist/camera eventually arrives at the churchyard and is ushered towards a group of gravestones. The villager explains to the camera that this, "is the only piece of English soil the Germans ever captured." [The Germans in fact possessed at that time English territorial property in the Channel Islands.]

Opening quote as per the film

Went the day well?
We died and never knew
But, well or ill.
Freedom, we died for you
Went the day well?

The correct wording would appear to be “Went the day well? We died and never knew, But well or ill, England, we died for you.” The verse is anonymous. The “original” appears in an unidentified newspaper cutting in a scrapbook now held in the RAF museum (AC97/127/50) and in a book called "Voices of Silence" being a collection of first world war poems put together by Vivian Noakes. The poems appear in chronological order and this appears under the heading “Verdun, The Battle of the Somme begins.” (Sutton Publishing 2006 ISBN 0-7509-4521-4)

This is one of John Maxwell Edmonds epitaphs

Reception

The film reinforced the message that civilians should be vigilant and that "careless talk costs lives". It was based on a short story by the author Graham Greene entitled "The Lieutenant Died Last" and, along with films like "In Which We Serve", is credited with bringing more realism into British propaganda films. By the time the film was released the threat of invasion had subsided somewhat, but it was still seen as an effective piece of propaganda, and its reputation has grown over the years. It has been noted that by opening in a predicted future where the war had been won, and in presenting a scenario where all echelons of British society unite for the common good (the lady of the manor sacrifices herself without pause, for example), the film's message was morale-boosting and positive rather than scaremongeringFact|date=May 2008.

In 2005 it was named as one of the "100 Greatest War Films" in a Channel 4 poll in Britain. The 1975 book and later film "The Eagle Has Landed" uses some of the same ideas.

The film includes the first major role of Thora Hird.

References

* Houston, Penelope. 1992. Went the Day Well? London: BFI
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