Cinema
Went the Day Well?
Alberto Cavalcanti · 1942
Synopsis
Under the opening credits, the camera enters an English village and stops at the churchyard. The sexton turns to the lens, points to a stone engraved with German names, and says it is the only piece of England they ever had. Back to the Whitsun weekend of 1942: a troop in British uniform arrives at Bramley End for exercises and asks to be billeted with the villagers. The village welcomes it warmly, and people vie for the honour of housing the officer.
Context
The title comes from an epitaph by John Maxwell Edmonds, published in 1918 and reused on the war memorials of the 1914 war. The film was shot at Ealing, in the western suburbs of London, from a story by Graham Greene published in 1940 in an American magazine; of that story, whose hero was a poacher, little remains beyond the opening situation. The exteriors were shot at Turville, in Buckinghamshire. The story is told by a villager speaking from a time when the war has been won. The threat of invasion had receded by the time the film was released; critics today note the blunt violence of its fighting.
Who it is for
Ninety-two minutes, in English, subtitled in French in the restored 2015 print.
Prizes and reception
Released in December 1942, it was shown in the United States in 1944 under another title, 48 Hours, and was restored in 2015.
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