- Note: Blu-ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a Blu-ray player. To find out more about Blu-ray, visit our Hi-Def Learn & Shop store.
- Important Information on Firmware Updates: Having trouble with your Blu-ray disc player? Will certain discs just not play? You may need to update the firmware inside your player. Click here to learn more.
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
DVD Description
Based on the story by Grahame Greene, Went The Day Well? is a classic piece of propagandist entertainment, a warning to British citizens to remain ever alert for the arrival of the enemy. Alberto Cavalcanti’s film tells the story of a quiet English village which has been infiltrated by German Soldiers masquerading as British Troops, leaving the plucky villages to uncover the plot and fight back.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
It wouldn't seem out of place if this feature was prefaced by one of Harry Enfield's spoof vintage information films, introduced by Messrs Grayson and Cholmondley-Warner. It could almost be entitled "Look, Listen and Take Heed: What to Do If You Suspect an Invasion".
Based on a story by Graham Greene, Went the Day Well? was made by Ealing Studios in 1942, half-way through World War II. Besides its entertainment value, it functioned as a piece of cautionary propaganda.
The villagers of the idyllic Bramley End are at first nonplussed when a visiting platoon inadvertently reveals itself to be in the employ of a certain power-crazed German dictator. This being an age of limited communication, a concerted effort is made to halt the advance party in its tracks.
What follows is a curious hybrid of The Vicar of Dibley and Inglourious Basterds as the local residents set about repelling the murderous interlopers with vengeful gusto. The tone of the piece is dark and disturbing - unusual for its time and quite unlike the subsequent comedies for which Ealing would become renowned. It is highly watchable, nonetheless.
For this 2011 Blu-ray, the film's source is the resultant print of the BFI's recent extensive restoration. The black-and-white picture - despite infrequent minor signs of its age - is a noticeable improvement over the 2003 DVD release. The soundtrack is PCM 2.0 mono and there are English subtitles. A pair of bonus features are included: a short film by director Alberto Cavalcanti and an audio essay about early British Cinema that was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
For those who are new to the output of Ealing Studios, this serves as an excellent starter before the sumptuous main course of its later offerings - several of which are now being issued on Blu-ray in restored versions.
Based on a story by Graham Greene, Went the Day Well? was made by Ealing Studios in 1942, half-way through World War II. Besides its entertainment value, it functioned as a piece of cautionary propaganda.
The villagers of the idyllic Bramley End are at first nonplussed when a visiting platoon inadvertently reveals itself to be in the employ of a certain power-crazed German dictator. This being an age of limited communication, a concerted effort is made to halt the advance party in its tracks.
What follows is a curious hybrid of The Vicar of Dibley and Inglourious Basterds as the local residents set about repelling the murderous interlopers with vengeful gusto. The tone of the piece is dark and disturbing - unusual for its time and quite unlike the subsequent comedies for which Ealing would become renowned. It is highly watchable, nonetheless.
For this 2011 Blu-ray, the film's source is the resultant print of the BFI's recent extensive restoration. The black-and-white picture - despite infrequent minor signs of its age - is a noticeable improvement over the 2003 DVD release. The soundtrack is PCM 2.0 mono and there are English subtitles. A pair of bonus features are included: a short film by director Alberto Cavalcanti and an audio essay about early British Cinema that was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
For those who are new to the output of Ealing Studios, this serves as an excellent starter before the sumptuous main course of its later offerings - several of which are now being issued on Blu-ray in restored versions.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
This propaganda film from the 1940's has passed the decades with flying colours. For those who don't know, this film is about German troops who take over a British village in the guise of British troops as a prelude to invasion. If this film sounds familiar to modern viewers, it was remade as "The Eagle has Landed" but ignore this dire Michael Caine vehicle and enjoy the original.
More importantly at long last we are seeing a proper overhaul of the Ealing catalogue which for years consisted of worn out prints. The restoration of both picture and sound are top notch and easily on a par with Optimum's recent releases like "Ice Cold in Alex" and "The Cruel Sea". With the likes of "The Lavender Hill Mob" and "Quatermass and the Pit" forthcoming, this is turning out to be a great year for fans of classic British Cinema.
Roger Shore
More importantly at long last we are seeing a proper overhaul of the Ealing catalogue which for years consisted of worn out prints. The restoration of both picture and sound are top notch and easily on a par with Optimum's recent releases like "Ice Cold in Alex" and "The Cruel Sea". With the likes of "The Lavender Hill Mob" and "Quatermass and the Pit" forthcoming, this is turning out to be a great year for fans of classic British Cinema.
Roger Shore
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This great film, now 70 years old,hardly needs any new endorsement. Filmed in 1942, it is based on a Graham Greene short story and concerns the takeover of a tiny Gloucestershire village by an advance party of German paratroopers setting up a communications base, and their defeat by alert and plucky villagers. It is an unsentimental look at the brutality of war and its effect on ordinary people. The story of traitors on the Home Front must have had a chilling effect on audiences in 1942. The film has been digitally restored, and captures a long-vanished rural England to perfection. It easily transcends the wartime propaganda which at one level it was. Together with "A Matter of Life and Death", one of the great films to come out of World War 2.
The story bears a superficial resemblance to Jack Higgins' 1975 novel The Eagle Has Landed (and its 1976 film) but is much, much more powerful.
The story bears a superficial resemblance to Jack Higgins' 1975 novel The Eagle Has Landed (and its 1976 film) but is much, much more powerful.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Went the film well
Absolutely loved this film. It's tense, exciting & even a little brutally hard edged. It mixed the wonderful old world charm of a quaint English village in the summer, with a dark... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rich22
Bulldog Spirit At It's Best
I absolutely love this film, and kind of wish I was around during this era. Listening to the lead actors speaking in their BBC English accents, always raises a smile, especially... Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. D. Miller
Wartime memories
For a film that is now in the historical category, the story still stands up to more modern ideas. Though a little corny in parts, the tension built up is worthy of the subject. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Davie Easton
Community Spirit at its Best
I had long wanted a copy of this glorious piece of British cinema. It is beguiling in that it involves you with the story that enfolds over a weekend. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Octavian
Ealing but no comedy!
This is a very good film but of its time in style if not content. I guess that the darkness of it was also because of the wartime period and reflected the mood of the people. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ahantrobus
Went The Day Well? It sure didn't!!
A really terrific little British propoganda film from 1942 with some well known actors of the time putting in good solid performances. Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. King
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
