I'm off sick from work so was able to watch this today. Great old film from 1942 about German paras disgused as Royal Engineers taking over a sleepy village ready for the invasion of Britain. A theme similar to The Eagle Has Landed. The Gloustershire Regiment helped make the film which makes me wonder how many of the film's extras became real casualties later in the war. Good atmospheric piece of wartime British cinema. Better than being at work. Here's some more info on the film. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/454179/index.html
Just watched 'Went the day well' again, the actings not brilliant but it's a damed good plot. For those who haven't seen the film it's about German soldiers in disguise trying to take over a small village. I think it was made in '42' ,it's got a pretty dark feel to it and if it had been released a few month's earlier I wouln't have wanted to have been a stranger entering a rural village in Britain. Worth a look if you haven't seen it and like the old B/w films.
Watched it earlier this year when I was home sick. Great film. The soldier-extras were from the Glosters. I wonder how many of them survived the war.
Must have been a great assignment for the Glosters. Better than what was to come. If any of them survived I bet they had a great story to tell the grandchildren.
He did, Dave, and yes it was the inspiration. A classic film, and one of my favourites for many years. I have also encountered many graves in WW2 cemeteries with the 'Went The Day Well' inscription on them.
"Went the day well? We died and never knew, But, well or ill, freedom, we died for you." Simonides commemorating Thermopylae, 480BC. Also quoted in a Battle of Britain poem. Agreed. One of the finest films made during ww2.
One thing that particularly impressed me was that although it was made during the war, the Germans weren't caricatures or comic book villains. They were utterly ruthless when they thought that military necessity required it but didn't mistreat civilians when they saw no military reason to do so. This to my mind was a more effective way of showing them as evil than the stereotypical mousache twirling monocled Prussian.
With the possible threat of invasion and the Germans just over the water, the film's them would have been poignant to say the least and it would have opened the eyes of those complacent enough to think that the Germans would only attack big cities. The attacking wasn't brilliant, but it got it's message over. I bet those who watched "The shape of things to come" in the cinema would have looked on that film as a foretelling what was to come. A lot of these films weren't made for entertainment, there was an underlying message either bolstering morale or keeping spirits up in hard times, or reinforcing a public message. Either way they are a statement of the times. They would have had more meaning and substance to those of the forties than a casual observer of later times. Being in black and white adds to the atmosphere as well, can't seem to take in a ww2 film when it's in colour.
Yesterday Channel 4 showed the classic B/W film Went the Day Well? (1942) For those who have never seen this film ,it is based on a Graham Greene novel about a German parachute squad being dropped into a quiet English village as a precursor to an invasion. I have seen the film many times before but this time I saved it on to DVD and watched it again earlier this morning. The film itself was made in 1942, the year I was called up into the Forces and watching it again this morning I was struck by the immense courage shown by those responsible for its making. The opening scene shows Mervyn Johns in the village churchyard commenting on the fact that there was a marker on a memorial stone that listed German soldiers as being buried there. He says " Nothing was said until after the war was over and old Hitler got what was coming to him" Just think about that......... The film was made in 1942 and I will remind you that eventual victory by the Allies was not until 1945. Such confidence.................. The mind boggles !!!!! Ron
I always remember as a child being s**t scared when the German burst into the Telephone Switchboard/Exchange and killed the Operator !
Having joined the ranks of the unemployed again (2nd time in 9 months) I watched it again. Also watched 'The way ahead' again the other day too. Both classics. Sink the Bismark on today too.
One of my favourites, shame I missed it yesterday. It's amazing how many times I've seen 'Went The Day Well?' on inscriptions in CWGC cemeteries.
It did indeed! And MANY other television dramas. The windmill you can occasionally see is a VERY popular one for TV production companies.
The title 'Went the day well' appears in so many WW11 documents,stories, gravestones and talk. It must have been the cult film of 42! Oldman
