Entertainment
One of the All-Time Best WWII Movies Was Actually Made as Propaganda
Based on a Graham Greene short story and explicitly designed to lift the public’s spirits as World War II wound on and Brits feared Nazi infiltrators, the British World War II film Went the Day Well? could easily be a stuffy time capsule of a film in 2026. However, even today, it’s still a bracing war film that clearly lived past its sell-by date to inspire filmmakers from Sam Peckinpah and Edgar Wright to Quentin Tarantino.
Director Alberto Cavalcanti carefully paints bucolic daily life in a quiet English village before the peace is shattered by a Nazi vanguard — and the film turns into a bloody siege thriller, with everyday folks taking up arms to defend their homes. Boasting an incredible lineup of British screen greats and surprisingly brutal action, Went the Day Well? is well worth a look in 2026, whether as a sort of Inglourious Basterds prototype or one of the best WWII films of all time in its own right.
‘Went the Day Well?’ Is the Kind of Nazi-Killing Thriller the Public Needed During WWII
Went the Day Well? makes its intentions clear almost from frame one, with a gravedigger laying out the stakes for the audience and promising that no matter the threat, there is Nazi killing to come. “They wanted England, these Jerries did,” says the film’s narrator as he points to a gravestone with a German name on it. “And this is the only bit they got.”
The sun shines, the milk is delivered, and prim English manners are on full display when a squadron of “British” soldiers arrive in the countryside town of Bramley End and are welcomed with open arms. Hints abound that all is not well. In a tense pub scene before the action begins, a kindly old barmaid offers a toast to the undercover Germans, jokingly referring to them as foreigners and cheering, “Down with Hitler!” as the men show their discomfort with some extremely subtle facial expressions. Cavalcanti manages a level of tension in sequences like these that will remind viewers of Tarantino’s legendary pub standoff some 70 years later.
The Nazi soldiers eventually take the village hostage, with efforts to warn the outside Allied forces frustrated. And things come to a boil when kindly postmistress Mrs. Collins convinces one of the Germans that she’s a sympathizer, then blinds him with the very cup of sugar she’s about to serve before sinking an axe into him in a spectacularly tense and cathartic scene. From this point forward, Went the Day Well?‘s lineage through Inglourious Basterds and even Hot Fuzz‘s country village siege climax becomes clear.
The innocent in Went the Day Well? suffer remarkably cruel fates for a film of its time — especially for one designed to lift the country’s spirits. A young boy is shot through the leg, the aforementioned barmaid is bayoneted, and another village woman literally throws herself on a grenade to save the children in her charge. It was an “orgy of shockingly blunt, matter-of-fact violence” for the time, according to British film critic Tom Huddleston.
Cavalcanti stages several thrilling set pieces as the villagers strike back, and the gorgeous black and white cinematography, particularly in a tense forest sequence, recalls some of the dark fairy-tale beauty of Night of the Hunter, which wouldn’t release for more than a decade. Throughout its brief running time, the mannered, extremely proper acting style of 1940s Britain clashes wonderfully with the brutal violence and jingoistic attitude toward the Nazi invaders.
And the climactic scene with the village women taking sniper shots at fleeing Germans from church windows offers a similar giddy thrill to Tarantino’s vengeance-fueled set pieces in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, and Went the Day Well? ends as it began: With the Nazis underneath the ground and the plucky British townsfolk returning to business as usual.
Quentin Tarantino’s WWII Revenge Fantasy Masterpiece Pulls Right From This ’40s Thriller
Would anybody like a glass of milk?
‘Went the Day Well?’ Is a Breezy Blast — And Easy to Watch Today
The Guardian’s Phillip French later called Went the Day Well? the single “best, most ferocious picture of the war years,” and its pure lizard-brain focus on revenge and giving the Nazis what-for remains a dubious joy to this day.
As a piece of propaganda by Britain’s wartime Ministry of Information, it served its purpose well, both warning of Nazi “fifth columnists” and boosting viewers’ morale. But the criminally under-seen Went the Day Well? also left a lasting imprint on pop entertainment, and it can still be streamed on Prime Video and for free on the Internet Archive. At a slim 88 minutes, it’s an easy bet for war film enthusiasts — and it still packs a surprising punch.
- Release Date
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December 7, 1942
- Runtime
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88 minutes
- Director
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Alberto Cavalcanti
- Writers
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Angus MacPhail, Diana Morgan
- Producers
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Michael Balcon
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Leslie Banks
Oliver Wilsford
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Basil Sydney
Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter
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