This is a cracking propaganda piece. And very graphic for a British film of the forties. "The Eagle Has Landed" stole much of it's basic plot. The middle class RADA accents may grind today but it made it's point perfectly. The paradox of the idyllic English country hamlet with the gravity of a Nazi invasion. The film doesn't reduce the dialogue to the usual "Vee have ways of making you talk" level and the violence is strong. Women in Brit movies of the forties were normally either maids or masters and knew their place but here they are plucky,brave and headstrong. "Mrs Miniver" this ain't. Brilliantly directed, especially the action scenes. The acting is first class. A superb contribution.

English villagers take in some soldiers during WWII, thinking they are English. Turns out they are Nazis planning an invasion. When one of the villagers catches on, the Nazis round them all up as prisoners. Now the villagers have to figure out how to escape or get word out about what's going on, which surprisingly leads to many deaths. This is a good one. A tense, exciting, mature wartime thriller. You'll find yourself rooting for these incredibly likable villagers, which makes it all the more sad (and realistic) that so many of them don't make it out of the movie alive. Some very strong scenes, such as the pepper scene and the grenade scene, among many others. Terrific acting, writing, and directing. Just a remarkable film all around. One of the best WWII movies I've seen.

Oh, its got its problems - most of all the terrible wooden acting and mock fighting from the real soldiers used in the battle scenes, plus it was made quick and cheap and as a propaganda piece. But, to really understand this film you have to watch it as though it is 1942. Firstly, the German invasion was still a real possibility, that and the genuine fear of 5th columnists infiltrating England, must have given the film a true sense of foreboding. Secondly, the nation was used to watching 1930s Hollywood and Pinewood films where violence was usually implied or low key and invariably the good guys win and don't die. The shock of this film is the scenes that must of have been way outside the comfort zone of a 1942 British audience; the village vicar been shot in the back, the Home Guard villagers being mown down, the village Constable stabbed in the back by the village war hero who turns out to be a Nazi sympathizer, the cheeky young boy shot as he tried to escape, the matronly lady of the manor throwing herself on a hand grenade to save the children, and surely most shocking of all, a little old lady postmistress who serves her German guard tea and sausages before cleaving his head in two with a firewood hatchet and then being bayoneted in the back herself by another German. The Germans are cartoon Nazis of course, but there are some nice subtle 'nazi-isms' like the posh 'English' Lieutenant having afternoon tea and stuffing the cake in his mouth like a beastly German would, while the two matronly ladies are discussing recipes for zoo animals during the Siege of Paris, and the German who dismisses the idea of Nazi's bayoneting babies, not because it would be amoral but because he could see no rational reason for doing so. It is a great film, especially if you can get yourself in the mind set of 1942

"Went The Day Well" is a wartime movie that is kind of hard to find on this side of the Atlantic. It took me some searching to find it, but it was worth the effort. Although this movie didn't have the budget of wartime movies coming from Hollywood, it's compensated by some good scripting and direction. Unlike some movies that portrayed the enemy as buffoons, the enemy here is dead serious, killing a number of the villagers in the movie. In fact, even though the movie opens with a prologue that more or less informs the audience that the villagers will prevail at the end, the struggle is so long and hard that even then you'll wonder if the villagers will indeed win the conflict. But the movie isn't COMPLETELY serious - there are occasional touches of humor that prevent the movie from becoming too bleak. A movie well worth your time.