Riposte à Narvik

Horse race tipster and journalist Metcalfe is picked for the job of foreign correspondent in Norway when Hitler invades Poland. On the way to Norway his boat is attacked by a German U-Boat, however when he tells the navy about it they disbelief him and, to make matters worse, he is removed from his job. When German forces invade Norway, Metcalfe returns determined to uncover what is going on and stop the Germans in their tracks.

1940's British cinema is understandably packed with wartime propaganda pieces. This film doesn't stand out from the pack but it is still worth a watch. The basic plot is interesting and provides tense drama towards the end, even if it gets all confused at times in the middle and some of it didn't quite hang together for me. The action is a little stilted at times and the film never misses a chance to show how very selfish and foolish the German officers are. This is a little heavy handed but what did you expect from a propaganda film? However it is badly done at times and seems heavy handed.

The cast are mainly good. Williams is typical of the stiff upper lip English heroes of this type of film. Again it seems a little stiff but it's the usual sort of English gentleman that we wanted to see at the time – especially when compared to the slimly cowardly Germans shown here. The support cast are OK despite the very, very iffy Norwegian accents, but this doesn't matter too much.

Overall this film is typical British wartime propaganda. The Brits save the day, the Germans are cowardly, sacrifice is made but the greater good is served. As a Brit this is a solid bit of entertainment for a rainy Saturday afternoon, but probably not much more capable than that.

This early Deborah Kerr role steals the film, The Day Will Dawn, an early WW2 film about the invasion and occupation of Norway, a topic seldom seen in Hollywood films. English films tended to explore topics that Hollywood films avoided. In Hollywood, intellectual exploration was considered box office poison. This movie, despite the hilarious nazi scene of a nazi officer killing a Norweigen traitor by shooting at the wall, is very effective for most of the film, and highlights Kerr's acting talents. The rest of the cast, particularly Kerr's father, do a very good job in the film. Some portrayals of the nazis border on cartoonish, but that is to be expected, considering the time period. A good WW actioner.

I found the best scenes in this movie to be the ones in which Deborah Kerr was acting. And I'm not even a fan of hers (or I wasn't, before this!) so that must say something about her...it was only about her 5th or 6th role, she was very young, yet she was perfect for the role. The rest of the movie traveled along fairly slowly, but luckily had a few exciting war time scenes, and an outstanding, terrifying, climax. Good for a rainy day, and don't give up on it. 7/10.

This movie is markedly more propagandist in tone than most movies made in the UK about the war while it was still in progress.It more closely resembles the overtly patriotic US pictures from the same era such as Guadalcanal Diary or Back To Bataan .It does not neglect to pay a merited tribute to the Norwegian people for their resistance either.

Hugh Williams plays Colin Metcalfe ,a London journalist sent by his paper to Norway , soon to be conquered by the Nazis .He falls in love with Kari Alstead (Deborah Kerr)the daughter of a local fisherman(Finlay Currie).He returns to London after a short posting to Norway where he witnesses a Nazi submarine in operation .He is sent back to the country by Naval Intelligence to help the Royal Navy pinpoint the exact location of the U-Boat base from which crippling attacks are being launched on allied vessels .In the time he was away Kari has been forced to enter into an engagement with the Quisling police chief Gunther(Griffith Moore)in order to protect her father from arrest by the local Nazi chief (Francis L Sullivan).He is able to engineer a raid which is in turn followed by brutal Nazi repression The movie gives a good picture of life under the jackboot and is well acted -although for all her talent Deborah Kerr is not ideal casting as a Norwegian fisherwoman .Ralph Richardson impresses as a journalist and Roland Culver is good as Naval Intelligence man Rousing and patriotic, the movie ends with a typically robust Churchillian sentiment that still stirs the blood and it is good to see British cinema indulging in patriotism rather than restraint for once

The purpose of many of the films made during WWII was to rouse the people in favor of the war effort....a sort of positive propaganda effort. And, when it comes to this goal, few pictures do as well as "The Day Will Dawn" (also called "The Avengers").

The story begins with the Nazi invasion of Poland. The scene opens up in a newspaper office and folks are excited about the UK finally being at war...but also concerned that the British government has so far done nothing to check the Germans. One of the reporters, Colin Metcalfe (Hugh Williams) is sent on assignment to cover Norway. This is before the German occupation of the country, but Colin is concerned by the actions of the supposedly peace German seamen...he sees them as preparing for the invasion of Norway. His attempt to warn the British government and people is twarted however....and later he finally gets the chance to redeem himself....by sneaking back into Norway and helping his air force to locate and destroy a secret German submarine base.

The film has a pretty good cast. In addition to Williams, Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr (in one of her first films) and Finlay Currie also are there to provide excellent support. As far as the rest of the picture goes, it's near perfect and very well made....aside from the overuse of bad (scratchy) was stock footage.