Restored by the BFI’s National Film Archive and released on DVD and Blu-ray by Optimum as part of their Ealing Classics restoration programme, Alberto Cavalcanti’s Went the Day Well? is a vivid example of British WW II propaganda that remains rousing viewing today.
A squad of soldiers arrive in the sleepy village of Bramley End to conduct training exercises. Suspicions are aroused by the odd behaviour of a few of the men, and when a boy discovers a bar of German chocolate in the commanding officer’s rucksack, they are revealed to be German paratroopers sent to Britain to disrupt communications when the imminent Nazi invasion of the island commences. Most of the villagers are rounded up and held captive in the village church, but they refuse to accept their lot, and everyone from boys to the lady of the manor do their part to raise the alarm and foil the Germans’ plot.
The film is structured as a flashback, with villager Charles Sims (Mervyn Jones)
addressing the camera at the beginning and end of the film while standing next to a monument in the church graveyard which lists the names of the dead German paratroopers. Interestingly, at the time the film was released (7 December 1942 to be precise, a year to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour), the planned German invasion of Britain, code named Operation Sea Lion, had largely receded as an actual threat. However, after the horror of the Blitz, a German invasion must have remained a terrifying possibility to many Britons, despite America’s entry into the war and the feeling that the tide had turned in Europe. One notable aspect of the film is the blunt brutality of its portrayal of violence; several years into the war and with many civilians having experienced first hand the terrible toll wrought by German bombing, it was likely thought that there was little point in gilding the lily about what would be required if people on the home front were forced to fight.
Although the flashback structure makes it clear that the invasion was repelled and the war was won by our lot, Cavalcanti ratchets up the tension effectively as the desperate villagers make several attempts to get the word out to others nearby. The village is also a neat microcosm of the class structure, intended to illustrate the need for all of England to pull together for the common good, from the posh lady of the manor to working folk (even the shifty local poacher).
The film has been carefully restored from the original picture and sound negatives, with careful comparisons and repair of source materials undertaken before creating new film sources; in other words, the way it should always be done, but can’t always be. The picture is practically blemish free, with near perfect black and white contrast and just the right amount of grain. The mono audio is as clear and noise free as one possibly could expect from a film of this vintage, with excellent balance and definition.
The extras are few, but are well chosen: an audio featurette ‘BBC Radio 3 The Essay – British Cinema of the 1940s’, which highlights the film’s place in the evolution of British film, and a short propaganda film by Cavalcanti, Yellow Caesar, which pokes fun at Benito Mussolini.
Film/Restoration: [Rating:4/5]
Extras: [Rating:3/5]
