Went the Day Well

That Graham Greene had a brain like a sewer. And I'm full of admiration for his ability to find human frailty, and to put even his nicest characters into the most appalling danger.


He exercised his talents to the full in the story that forms the basis of Went the Day Well?, a delirious piece of British wartime propaganda made by Brazilian homosexual Cavalcanti and released in 1942.


Gloriously restored, it's now playing at the National Film Theatre. And it's joyful. The plot unfolds in a delightful English village miles from anywhere -- you know the sort of idyllic setting, with the Medieval church and the Georgian manor. Beautiful.


One day, a fleet of lorries turns up with a corps of Royal Engineers, here to undertake a project. The village gladly accommodates them, unsuspecting that they are, in fact, German soldiers here to launch a mission critical to the success of the planned invasion -- and they are aided by assorted 5th columnists whose comforting reassurance takes in the rest of the village.


But (by a couple of coincidences that don't bear too much examination) the villagers unmask the Germans and then the fight is on, as they gradually get their wits about them and begin the resistance.

No holds are barred, here: the vicar is shot dead in cold blood, women and children are beaten, the traitor within stabs the trusting village policeman in the back, and the villagers have to dig deep inside themselves to find the violence necessary to fight back: one of the most horrific scenes ever filmed shows the delightful post-mistress, complete with pussy-bow, suddenly taking an axe to a German.


Sounds ghastly? In fact, it's gripping, and sufficiently interlaced with humour to prevent the whole thing becoming grinding. In its crisp new restoration this near-70 year old film is a fitting tribute to the genius of both Graham Greene and Cavalcanti.