Went the Day Well? (1942)

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General		Extras
Category	War Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1942
Running Time	88:27
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (45:14)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Alberto Cavalcanti
Studio Distributor	Ealing Studios Madman Entertainment	Starring	Leslie Banks C.V. France Valerie Taylor Marie Lohr Basil Sydney David Farrar Harry Fowler Frank Lawton Edward Rigby Elizabeth Allan Thora Hird Norman Pierce Mervyn Johns
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	William Walton

     May 1942. With the German invasion imminent a 60 strong party of German paratroopers disguised as English soldiers take over the small English village of Bramley End. They are led by Kommandant Orler (Basil Sydney) and Lt. Jung (David Farrar) and their orders are to hold the village for 48 hours, disrupting English communications when the invasion arrives. At first the deception works well, and the soldiers are welcomed. However, vicar’s daughter Nora (Valerie Taylor) starts to be suspicious and reveals her concerns to Oliver (Leslie Banks) and the indomitable Mrs Fraser (Marie Lohr). When the ruse is exposed, the villagers fight back with whatever weapons they have to hand led by on-leave sailor Tom (Frank Lawton), his father Jim (Norman Pierce) and churchwarden Charles (Marvyn Johns). Unaware that they have a traitor in their midst working with the Germans, the villagers must alert the army and hold on until help arrives.

     Went the Day Well? (aka 48 Hours) was made in 1942 during WWII; it may be a propaganda film in which heroic ordinary people fight back against the menace of Nazi domination but that does not stop it being a tense, exciting thriller with very black moments. The set up is very similar to that used 20 years later in The Eagle Has Landed; it starts with a reveal of a gravestone in an English churchyard with German names, then goes on to tell the story of the “Battle of Bramley” in flashback. It is certainly a film of its time; the French are criticised for letting down the English and the occupying officers and soldiers, once revealed as Germans, are caricatures, shown as unnecessarily violent and brutal thugs. They shoot the village vicar, slap around the villagers, take children as hostages and threaten to execute them in the morning. Lt. Jung is also shown drunk when on duty, which is unlikely for a well trained paratrooper in the midst of a dangerous and delicate mission. Went the Day Well? is, in fact, quite a violent film (although most is not on screen) as ordinary village people kill the Germans in a variety of ways, including with an axe, as the film moves towards its climax.

     Went the Day Well is a very good, tense thriller. Although we know the Germans fail, the film builds tension well, mostly because the villagers are very well established and we know them, and care about their fates. Quite a number of them, including very appealing characters, are killed so it is not the failure of the German mission, but the fates of the villagers, individually or collectively, that hold the attention and interest. This concentration upon character and the sudden and shocking brutality of ordinary people makes Went the Day Well? a compelling and watchable war time drama.

Video

     Went the Day Well? is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, close to the original ratio of 1.37:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

     For a film that is almost 70 years old, shot in wartime, it looks very good indeed. The black and white print is mostly very sharp with brightness and contrast even, and blacks and shadow detail much better than I had expected. There is constant film grain, the occasional scratch or artefact and some motion blur but in the main this is an excellent clean print. I have watched many films 40 years younger that Went the Day Well? that don’t look half as good.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     Audio is English Dolby Digital 1.0 encoded at 192 Kbps. This was the original sound mix. There is occasional distortion, but on the whole the dialogue is clear and easy to understand and the effects, such as explosions and gunshots, are pretty much as one would expect. There is no surround or sub use.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The score by William Walton is neither memorable nor distracting.

Audio Ratings Summary

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     There are no extras.

     The Region 1 US edition apparently has a leaflet with production notes. The Region 2 UK release has no extras either but has been noted to have extensive combing in some scenes. That release has an average bitrate of 5.83 Mbps – our Region 4 has an average bitrate of 7.55 Mbps and as noted above is a good sharp print. I think a win to Region 4.

     Went the Day Well? is a very good, tense thriller; a compelling and watchable war time drama. The video and audio good and much better than one might expect of a film almost 70 years old. There are no extras.

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Plot
Overall