Went the Day Well? (1942)

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Went the Day Well? (1942) – A. Cavalcanti

Adapted from a Graham Greene short story, this British film (from Ealing Studios) presents a hypothetical for the home audience.  What if the Germans successfully invaded a country village in the UK?  The plot sees German soldiers well-trained in English and British culture arrive in Bramley End disguised as British soldiers needing to billet for a few days for some “exercises”.  Of course, they are welcomed by the locals – and particularly Leslie Banks, who plays a member of the Fifth Column (working for the Nazis) but who is nevertheless the local organiser for the town’s defences.  The Germans plan to set up some equipment that can disrupt communication networks in advance of a real invasion by their armed forces.  After a few mistakes on the part of the Nazis (a chocolate bar with a German brand is discovered), the locals start to get suspicious – but it is too late and they are rounded up and held captive in the local Manor house.  What unfolds then is a story of British pluck and gumption, as the motley assortment of locals seek to escape and alert those outside the town to their plight.  Director Alberto Cavalcanti (a Brazilian who was a regular for Ealing in the Forties, including participating in spooky horror anthology Dead of Night, 1945) handles everything with verve and there is nary a dull moment.  Of course, the British community was probably beyond worrying that the Nazis would invade in 1942 (because the Battle of Britain had been won) but Hitler was not yet vanquished (nor the extent of his crimes revealed) when this film was released.  As a paranoid fantasy of the first rank, even today it can produce a shudder when you imagine “what if”.