Despite its rather tortuous title this is a great piece of British WWII propaganda with a simple message: The Nazis are a bunch of child-murdering blackguards, and we Brits will see through their dastardly plans and overcome them using our doughty pluck and the intelligence of our womenfolk and children.
The film begins with the arrival of a sizeable detachment of British troops arriving in a sleepy village which is coping admirably with the rigours of rationing and getting by without their menfolk, who are away fighting. However, it soon transpires that the British troops are, in fact a crack team of German paratroopers who have come to jam British radar in preparation for the invasion. Not only that but the local lord of the manor is a dastardly fifth columnist. The women of the village become suspicious of the newcomers due to the funny way they write numerals and the fact that they have German chocolate with them. This is all to no avail though as everyone takes their worries to the traitorous squire.
As it is a propaganda piece, the ending comes as no surprise. What is interesting though is the subversion of the class system: the dodgy poacher and his little scamp of a sidekick who are the true heroes, where the 'officer class' of the village are portrayed as either incompetent or downright villainous. The film was based on a Graham Greene story, and his perfect observation of the British way of life is superbly translated to the screen.
Compared to the other, more famous propaganda films (I'm thinking here of Humphrey Jennings), the quality of production (film stock, sound, lighting etc.) is very high, and it is hard to imagine that this was made in a time of war.
The film begins with the arrival of a sizeable detachment of British troops arriving in a sleepy village which is coping admirably with the rigours of rationing and getting by without their menfolk, who are away fighting. However, it soon transpires that the British troops are, in fact a crack team of German paratroopers who have come to jam British radar in preparation for the invasion. Not only that but the local lord of the manor is a dastardly fifth columnist. The women of the village become suspicious of the newcomers due to the funny way they write numerals and the fact that they have German chocolate with them. This is all to no avail though as everyone takes their worries to the traitorous squire.
As it is a propaganda piece, the ending comes as no surprise. What is interesting though is the subversion of the class system: the dodgy poacher and his little scamp of a sidekick who are the true heroes, where the 'officer class' of the village are portrayed as either incompetent or downright villainous. The film was based on a Graham Greene story, and his perfect observation of the British way of life is superbly translated to the screen.
Compared to the other, more famous propaganda films (I'm thinking here of Humphrey Jennings), the quality of production (film stock, sound, lighting etc.) is very high, and it is hard to imagine that this was made in a time of war.