Film Forum

U.K., 1942
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti
Based on the story by Graham Greene
With Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, David Farrar, Thora Hird
Approx. 92 min. 35mm. 

Ah, there'lI-always-be-an-England: the chatty, gossipy postmistress; the graciously condescending lady of the manor; the timid spinster exchanging tentative doe eyes with the courteous squire; the wily poacher brazening it out with the suspicious constable: the hovering, white-maned vicar, the obstreperously nosey Cockney evacuee. But what's that para on maneuvers doing with that sweet labelled Chokolade-Wien in his kit?. And why do the soldiers cross their 7s in "the Continental manner?" What could have been cozy British comedy - from the same Ealing Studios that later patented the brand, with films like Passport to Pimlico and The Lavender Hill Mob — suddenly turns into The Eagle Has Landed meets Straw Dogs, as a beloved village character takes an axe to a Nazi and a well-bred lady grimly pumps lead into the local Quisling. Unsung, rip roaring propaganda for Vigilance, made when the Axis was seemingly invincible and Fifth Columnists and invasion were actually still ominous possibilities; its framing story is astonishingly set in a victorious post-war Britain. Adapted from a Graham Greene story published in the American Collier's magazine and directed by Brazilian native Cavalcanti, his first feature after two decades in both the French avant garde and British documentary movements, its cast is a succession of British film stalwarts: Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Allan, Basil Sydney, Mervyn Johns, David Farrar, Frank Lawton, Valerie Taylor, Thora Hird, et al.

Restored by the British Film Institute.

Reviews

“One of the most subversive films to come out of World War II, a British drama that was unsettling in its day and is even more so now.”
– Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

“Establishes, with loving care and the occasional wry wink, the ultimate bucolic English scene, then takes an almost sadistic delight in tearing it to bloody shreds in an orgy of shockingly blunt, matter-of fact violence.”
– Tom Huddleston, Time Out

“What distinguishes [it] is Cavalcanti's cool, brutal depiction of suddenly erupting violence and death; not only are British 'heroes' often dispatched with shocking realism, but quiet, cozy housewives find themselves killing the enemy with almost hysterical relish.” 
– Geoff Andrew.

“Its influence shows up in Village of the Damned and maybe even, with a twist, in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds."
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

“JAWDROPPINGLY SUBVERSIVE!” 
– Time Out (London)

“A PRESCIENT MASTERPIECE! A conspiracy thriller, a black-comic nightmare and a surrealist masterpiece!”
– The Guardian

“One of the most subversive films to come out of World War II, a British drama that was unsettling in its day and is even more so now.”
– Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

“Establishes, with loving care and the occasional wry wink, the ultimate bucolic English scene, then takes an almost sadistic delight in tearing it to bloody shreds in an orgy of shockingly blunt, matter-of fact violence.”
– Tom Huddleston, Time Out

“What distinguishes [it] is Cavalcanti's cool, brutal depiction of suddenly erupting violence and death; not only are British 'heroes' often dispatched with shocking realism, but quiet, cozy housewives find themselves killing the enemy with almost hysterical relish.” 
– Geoff Andrew.

“Its influence shows up in Village of the Damned and maybe even, with a twist, in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds."
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

“JAWDROPPINGLY SUBVERSIVE!” 
– Time Out (London)

“A PRESCIENT MASTERPIECE! A conspiracy thriller, a black-comic nightmare and a surrealist masterpiece!”
– The Guardian