British Cinema - 'Went The Day Well?' Quiz

Answer: Graham Greene

This film was adapted from a short story by Graham Greene called 'The Lieutenant Died Last' which had been published in the United States during June 1940. In the original story, a retired Boer War veteran turned poacher foils a Nazi plan to infiltrate and capture an English village.

In this original form the main character, the poacher, is called Bill Purves whereas the character in the film is known as Bill Purvis and his role was considerably diminished to that of a small supporting role. Like many stories adapted from the written word and onto the big screen, the final result often bears little resemblance to the original written work and 'Went The Day Well?' is no different in this respect.

Answer: Bramley End

Much of 'Went The Day Well' was filmed on location in or around the picturesque Buckinghamshire village of Turville, nestled in the Hambleden Valley. At the very beginning of the film the image settles on an old road sign positioned at a road junction; a turn to the right will lead the viewer to the village of Upton Ferrars, a journey of some six and one half miles distant.

As the film leads us to the left and toward the peaceful village of Bramley End, we are joined by the narrator, church warden Charles Sims played by Mervyn Johns, who takes us on a short stroll through the graveyard in which he sets the scene for the remainder of the film.

It is here within its Norman church, The Church of Saint Mary The Virgin, that much of the tale takes place.

Interestingly, Turville was to be the location selected by the BBC for its amusing and very successful religious comedy 'The Vicar of Dibley', some fifty years later.

Answer: Saturday

During the Cold War, whilst I was serving in BAOR, it was always said that if the Russians wanted to guarantee victory, they should invade over a weekend. Things were no different back in 1942 when this film was made and the Germans had the same idea; catch the British at a weekend when they were relaxing! It was Whitsun weekend, Saturday 23rd of May 1942 as stated during the church warden's monologue, when the Nazis arrived in Bramley End with the mission to sabotage a nearby military radio installation prior to the major invasion that had been planned for the following Monday morning.

Answer: Sappers

"Good morning sir... Oh, I'm afraid I didn't realise, I'm disturbing you."
"Not at all" replied the Reverend Ashton.
"My name's Hammond, I'm in charge of a party of sappers. We've been sent to do a job of work down here."

The British commander Major Hammond, played by Basil Sydney and his Second in Command, Lt Maxwell, played by David Farrar, are searching the village for quarters for their soldiers; unbeknown to the villagers at this time, they were both German officers. In this early scene, Major Hammond is visiting the Reverend at home while he is breakfasting in order to obtain permission to billet his soldiers, numbering around sixty, in the village hall. Sappers, strictly speaking are military engineers, but the word has also been used to apply to Pioneers in times gone by; the word being taken from the French word 'saper' which means 'to undermine'. It was the sapeur who would dig under the walls of castles during the medieval period. In the British military, Sapper is an actual rank, being the Royal Engineer equivalent of a private soldier.

Answer: An assault on a young fellow

"You're a disgrace to your uniform, why you're no better than a German you are!" said Mrs Collins the post mistress, scolding the glaring soldier who had just assaulted George Truscott.

George Truscott, played by Harry Fowler, was one of a small group of evacuees living in Bramley End. Whilst the Germans were unloading their equipment, young George was caught snooping around the military equipment and was roughed up by one of the Germans; it is interesting to note that in the film 'The Eagle Has Landed' which shared a basic premise with this film, the Germans were only revealed as the enemy after one of their number was killed rescuing a young girl after she had fallen into a mill pond and faced death from crushing by the water wheel. In this film, the propagandists were required to portray the Nazis as cruel and brutal sadists.

Answer: False

The public house in Bramley End had an even more appropriate name, that of the Ring O' Bells. During the war years church bells fell silent in Britain as the government ordered that they were only to be rung in the event of a German invasion. Even more appropriately, at the time that this film was set, the ringing of church bells was supposed to signal a landing by the German airborne forces in particular.

It was during a scene in Bramley End's public house that post mistress and landlady Mrs Collins, was reminded that she had left an important telegram destined for the manor house at the village hall.

She had escorted an NCO to the village hall earlier that day with the keys but had forgotten to pass on the telegram, leaving it there with the soldiers.

This simple act of absent-mindedness on her part was to set in motion a sequence of events that would eventually foil the enemy's plans.

Answer: Piccadilly

During a casual conversation with one of the soldiers, land girl Ivy Dawking, played by Thora Hird, asks a soldier where he comes from; he replies, Manchester.

"Ah! Good old Piccadilly on a Saturday night" exclaimed Ivy.
"I said I came from Manchester not London" replied the soldier.
"I meant Piccadilly in Manchester, silly" said Ivy.
"Ah I was forgetting, I left Manchester when I was a child" the soldier retorted.

This was just one of a number of errors made by the Germans that begin to arouse the suspicions of the locals. Mrs Collins, the local post mistress played by Muriel George, had also misplaced a telegram and, after retrieving it from the village hall where the Germans were billeted, it was noticed that one of the soldiers had written on using a European style number seven; they had been using the back of the envelope whilst playing cards. Meanwhile, during a visit to the manor house and whilst prying through Major Hammond's pack, George Truscott discovers a bar of chocolate engraved with the words Chokolade Wien - Chocolate of Vienna.

Answer: Parachute

Ortler informs the villagers that he and his men have work to do; work that they will carry out without interference. He also informs the congregation that if any attempt is made to inform the outside world or to escape, the perpetrators will be shot.

Many people would consider that members of such elite units such as parachute troops, or Fallschirmjäger as the German airborne forces were known, would be young, fit men. In this film it would seem that the British propagandists selected those who were to play these troops from a much older age group and that they were required to look as physically menacing as possible.

The use of lighting and camera angle most certainly helped to achieve this aim!

Answer: The Reverend Ashton

After refusing to accept the authority of the Germans and to obey their orders, the Reverend Ashton, played by C V France in one of his final roles, calmly walks into the church tower and hauls down the bell rope sounding the bell before being shot by the German Second In Command.

As he falls to the ground, dying, the bell rings again... Across the fields surrounding the village, a member of the Home Guard on exercise hears the bell and reports it to his commander. Meanwhile, in the church, the community decide to allow Oliver Wilsford to act as their spokesman; unbeknown to them, Wilsford is a traitor and in league with the Nazis.

Answer: He is struck with an axe.

This enemy victim falls to Mrs Collins in the village post office. Whilst preparing a meal for her soldier, Mrs Collins removes the cap from a pepper pot and takes a handful of the spice. After throwing pepper into the face of her tormentor, Mrs Collins picks up a small axe from her hearth and, as the German struggles, she strikes him with the axe, killing him. Greatly distressed at what she has been forced to do, Mrs Collins attempts to call for help on the telephone but as she does so another German enters the post office, sees his dead comrade and kills Mrs Collins with his bayonet.

Answer: A box of eggs

Ivy had written her message on the shell of one of the eggs that she had given to Charlie. Although the land girls are watched closely by one of the Germans, Ivy manages to get her message out without the soldier realising what she has done. As he makes his way back to Upton Ferrars, Charlie is forced to swerve off the road to avoid a collision; the box of eggs falls from his basket and is crushed under the wheels of the car that had almost hit him. Meanwhile, Mrs Fraser, played by Australian actress Marie Lohr, succeeds in smuggling out a handwritten message that she had placed into the jacket pocket of visitor to the manor, her cousin Maude played by Hilda Bayley. Unfortunately during her return home, cousin Maude inadvertently uses this note to wedge closed a loose window only to have it later eaten by her dog. Ironically, the car that had almost hit Charlie was that of Mrs Fraser's cousin Maude!

Answer: An unusual recipe book

"They (the Parisians) were reduced to the most terrible straits", said Mrs Fraser... "And of course, horseflesh was unobtainable after the first few weeks" then, glaring at the German sat next to Maude, she said coldly, "Rats were quite a delicacy apparently".

Maude is employed by the British Ministry of Food to travel the country giving cookery demonstrations and has called in to see Mrs Fraser between appointments. The recipe book belonged to Mrs Fraser's grandmother and dates from the period of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The inhabitants of Paris had been under siege for months and were starving; consequently the animals in the zoos were all eaten and this book contained recipes for dishes such as elephant gallettes, parrot pie and antelope steak. Typically, as the subject of eating animals was raised, the German Second in Command, Leutnant Jung, was pictured in this scene greedily eating an éclair in an animal-like fashion.

Answer: Bill Purvis, the local poacher

After explaining the situation in the village to Bill Purvis, George receives directions as to the safest route away from the village. After the youngster has left, Bill Purvis uses his poaching skills and local knowledge to cause a diversion, during which he shoots dead one German sentry before being shot and mortally wounded himself.

Unfortunately, George is soon spotted by the Germans and is also shot and wounded although he eventually manages to reach safety with a couple living in Upton Ferrars where he reveals what is happening to the people of Bramley End.

Answer: He stabbed him in the back.

The villagers trapped under guard in the church formulate a plan for an escape. Local policeman Joe Garbutt, played by Johnny Schofield, decides to make the attempt through a chute used to supply the church with its heating fuel. In the darkness and heavy rain, Wilsford draws a knife on Garbutt and whilst they are both crouched down taking cover behind the gravestones, stabs him in the back, killing him. Wilsford makes his way to the manor house and, whilst making his report to the Germans, he is overheard discussing future plans by Nora Ashton, the murdered vicar's daughter and Mrs Fraser who were eavesdropping from behind a heavy door. Unaware that he has been exposed, Wilsford moves into the drawing room and prepares to remove a barricade in order to make access to the house easier for the enemy's assault.

Answer: False

Soldiers from the regular army and home guard mount an attack in order to destroy the enemy force at Bramley End. The Germans are also mounting an assault of their own in order to kill the villagers that have taken refuge there in the manor house. The small number of lightly armed villagers begin to barricade the house; "Is this loaded?" asks Nora Ashton, showing sailor Tom Sturry a revolver she has been given; "Yes, do you think you can handle it?" replies Tom. "Well enough", says Nora as she begins to descend the stairs to the ground floor; she locates Wilsford as he is trying to dismantle a barricade positioned near a window in the drawing room and, with one shot, avenges the death of her father.