- Film Review
- Reviewed By David Parkinson
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5 out of 5
This is without question the finest Home Front picture made during the Second World War. Adapted from Graham Greene's short story The Lieutenant Died Last, it depicts the seizure of a quiet English village by disguised Nazi soldiers in league with local quislings with such plausibility that it must have chilled contemporary audiences to the bone. Those watching today will be similarly struck by the steel beneath the quintessential Englishness of the villagers. What makes this such compelling cinema for viewers decades later is the realism and restraint with which director Alberto Cavalcanti tells his tale and the naturalistic playing of his splendid cast.
Plot Summary
Second World War drama based on a story by Graham Greene, starring Leslie Banks and Elizabeth Allan. A group of German soldiers parachute into England disguised as a British platoon and infiltrate the sleepy village of Bramley End. They meet with stern opposition from the locals but find an unlikely ally.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Oliver Wilsford
- Leslie Banks
- Peggy
- Elizabeth Allan
- Tom Sturry
- Frank Lawton
- Ortler
- Basil Sydney
- Nora Ashton
- Valerie Taylor
- Sims
- Mervyn Johns
- Poacher
- Edward Rigby
- Mrs Frazer
- Marie Lohr
- Vicar
- C V France
- Jung
- David Farrar
- Mrs Collins
- Muriel George
- Land girl
- Thora Hird
- George Truscott
- Harry Fowler
- Daisy
- Patricia Hayes
- German corporal
- James Donald
Crew
- Director
- Alberto Cavalcanti
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