UK, 1942
92m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono (RCA Sound System), English
A British war drama with very minor fantastic elements, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti using the name Cavalcanti.
Plot Summary
During World War II, a battalion of German troops invades a small town in Kent and meet considerable resistance from the locals. The framing device has the events of the story being recounted from the near future, after the war has ended.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Cavalcanti [real name: Alberto Cavalcanti]
© [not given on screen]
Ealing Studios present. Distributed by Associated British Film Distributors
Produced by: Michael Balcon
Associate Producer: S.C. Balcon
Story and Screen Play: John Dighton, Diana Morgan, Angus MacPhail
From a Story by: Graham Greene
Cameraman: Wilkie Cooper
Reporter Cameraman: D. Slocombe [real name: Douglas Slocombe]
Special Effects: Roy Kellino
Editor: Sidney Cole
Music: William Walton
[Sound] Recordist: L. Page [real name: Len Page]
Art Director: Tom Morahan
Made and Recorded at: Ealing Studios
Cast
Leslie Banks (Oliver Wilsford)
Elizabeth Allan (Peggy Fry)
Frank Lawton (Tom Sturry)
Basil Sydney (Major Ortler)
Valerie Taylor (Nora Ashton)
Mervyn Johns (Charlie Sims)
Edward Rigby (Bill Purvis, the poacher)
Marie Lohr (Mrs Fraser)
C.V. France (Vicar Ashton)
David Farrar (Lt Jung)
Muriel George (Mrs Collins, the postmistress)
Thora Hird (Ivy, land girl)
Norman Pierce (Jim Sturry)
Men of the Gloucestershire Regiment (soldiers)
Harry Fowler (young George)
Patricia Hayes (Daisy)
Hilda Bayley (cousin Maud Chapman)
Johnny Schofield (Joe Garbett)
Ellis Irving (Harry Drew)
Philippa Hiatt (Mrs Bates)
Tommy Trinder [voice of dance band announcer on radio] *
Alternative Titles
48 Horas de Terror – Portuguese title
48 horas – Mexican title
48 Horas! – Brazilian title
48 Hours – US title
48 óra – Hungarian title
È andata bene la giornata? – Italian title
Aya Rooz be Khoobi Separi Shod? – Iranian title
Dzień dobrze minął? – Polish title
Femte Kolonne i England – Danish title
Horas de angustia – Mexican title
Stormpatrullen – Swedish title
They Came in Khaki – working title
Как прошёл день? – Russian title
Links
Extracts included in
The 100 Greatest War Films (2005)
Forever Ealing (2002)
Introducing Ealing Studios (2012)
War Stories (2006)
References
Periodicals
Documentary News Letter vol.3 no.11/12 (November/December 1942) p.149
Empire no.122 August 1999, pp. 144 – video review (Videos to buy by DP)
Film Review no.621 August 2002, pp. 74-75 – illustrated review (Ealing Studios' 100th Anniversary – by Ben Woodhams)
Film Review Special no.41 Combat – illustrated article
Journal of Popular Film & Television vol.31 no.2 (Summer 2003) pp.83-92 – illustrated article (Nazis into Germans: Went the Day Well? (1942) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976) S.P. Mackenzie)
Kine Weekly no.1854 29 Oct 1942
Kine Weekly no.2143 27 May 1948, pp. 25
The Listener vol.108 no.2786 (11 November 1982) p.37
The Listener vol.113 no.2892 (17 January 1985) p.31
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.9 no.107 (November 1942) p.142
Motion Picture Herald vol.149 no.7 (14 November 1942)
New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews vol.1 no.8 (3 July 1944) pp. 321, 322 – credits, review
The Picturegoer vol.11 no.569 (12 December 1942) p.14 – synopsis
Radio Times vol.237 no.3079 (13 November 1982) p.15 – article (by George Perry)
Sight & Sound vol.2 no.4 (August 1992) p.42 – book review (A classic case by David Thompson)
Sight & Sound vol.20 n8 (August 2010) p.32-36 – illustrated article (Britain's secret Brazilian by Nick James)
Sight & Sound vol.4 no.8 (August 1994) p.63 – video review
Sight & Sound vol.9 no.9 (September 1999) p.66 – video review (Video: retail by Geoffrey Macnab)
Today's Cinema vol.59 no.4795 (30 October 1942)
Today's Cinema vol.70 no.5652 (26 May 1948) p.12
Books
British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928-1959 by David Quinlan p.260 – credits, synopsis
