Went the Day Well?

Went the Day Well?
Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Cavalcanti
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	Graham Greene (story) John Dighton Angus MacPhail Diana Morgan
Starring	Leslie Banks Mervyn Johns Basil Sydney C.V. France Valerie Taylor Thora Hird David Farrar
Music by	William Walton
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper
Edited by	Sidney Cole
Distributed by	Ealing Studios
Release date	7 December 1942 (UK)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Went the Day Well? is a 1942 British war film adapted from a story by Graham Greene and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. It was produced by Michael Balcon of Ealing Studios and served as unofficial propaganda for the war effort. It tells of how an English village is taken over by Nazi paratroopers. It reflects the greatest potential nightmare of many Britons of the time, although the threat of German invasion had largely receded by that point. It includes the first significant role of Thora Hird's career, and one of the last of C. V. France. The village location for some scenes was Turville in Buckinghamshire. In the film the village is named Bramley End and the entire incident is said to be called the Battle of Bramley End.

The story is told in flashback by a villager, played by Mervyn Johns, as though to a person visiting after the war. He recounts: one Saturday during the Second World War, a group of seemingly authentic British soldiers arrive in the small, fictitious English village of Bramley End. It is the Whitsun weekend so life is even quieter than usual and there is almost no traffic of any kind. At first they are welcomed by the villagers, until doubts begin to grow about their true purpose and identity. After they are revealed to be German soldiers intended to form the vanguard of an invasion of Britain, they round up the residents and hold them captive in the local church. The vicar is shot after sounding the church bell in alarm.

In attempts to reach the outside world, many of the villagers take action. Such plans include writing a message on an egg and giving them to the local paper boy for his mother, but they are crushed when Mrs Fraser's cousin runs over them. Mrs Fraser then puts a note in Cousin Maude's pocket, but she uses it to hold her car window in place; her dog, Edward, then chews it to shreds after it blows onto the back seat. Mrs Collins, the postmistress, manages to kill a German with an axe used for chopping firewood, and tries to telephone elsewhere. The girls on the exchange see her light and decide that she can wait. Mrs Collins waits until she is killed by another German who walks into the shop moments afterwards. The girl at the exchange then picks up the phone, getting no reply.