Warn That Man

Any old tosh about us thwarting the nasty Nazis would have gone down well with a 1943 audience. Don't expect the brilliance of WENT THE DAY WELL, think more a George Formby film but with less believability, artistry and suspense. Yes, definitely don't expect suspense.

British International Pictures, or Associated British Pictures as it was known as in its latter years, having had its Elstree studios commandeered by the government was just treading water through the war years. There wasn't an abundance of talent left. They even had to borrow Jean Kent from Gainsborough for this who looks like she's not sure they asked for her but forgot to write a part for her.

The only saving grace in this reject Scooby Doo story is Gordon Harker. He just needs to turn up and be Gordon Harker to add a sense of warm, comfortable familiarity. Although his role is utterly unoriginal, like the cinematic equivalent to your favourite comfy chair, his cosy cockney humour almost makes you forget the predictable, unimaginative direction.

This is a poorly made and rather feeble wartime film about a plot by the Nazis to kidnap Churchill and spirit him off to Germany. The name Churchill and the title Prime Minister are never mentioned in the film, and Churchill is referred to only as 'that man', which comes across as ludicrously coy. From the very beginning, when a silly voice-over says three times before the credits: 'Warn that man! Warn that man! Warn that man!', I knew I was in for a grim viewing of a very inferior film. I am a great admirer of Gordon Harker, and here he has a leading role, but the part offers him little opportunity to show off his genuine talents, and the direction is so bad that all he is asked to do is mug some faces, lark about, and make some limp Cockney jokes. The film creaks like an old door hinge. I cannot understand why anyone bothered to put it on Blu-Ray, as if it were a classic. The only kind of classic it is, one might say, is a classic flop.

I can't agree with the previous comments, It's a light hearted attempt to boost moral,take it for what it is,an 80 year old film (B feature) yes corny but great fun.

Warn That Man is a stage play that was turned into a wartime propaganda B movie.

Winston Churchill will be having a break at Buckley Hall as a special guest of Lord Buckley (Raymond Lovell.)

The Nazis has ordered a German actor called Hausemann (Raymond Lovell) to masquerade as Lord Buckley as they look similar.

The Germans invade the country house, abduct Lord Buckley and kill some of his servants. The Nazis replace them with their own people.

The plan goes awry as they fail to notice Lord Buckley's niece had arrived and was upstairs hiding. Later in comes her boyfriend who is a pilot with two other people who rescued him when he was shot down.

The three of them immediately smell a rat as Lord Buckley does not seem to know the boyfriend or that his niece was due to visit.

A hybrid comedy thriller. It is a strange concoction. The comedy seems laboured at times and stunts the thrills.

This has the same basic storyline as "The Eagle Has Landed" only in this instance on a rather smaller budget and made at a rather small studio at Welwyn.However in this case the story is set in a country house and there is little action outside probably a combination of wartime and budgetary considerations.The storyline is quite predictable and there are few surprises. The main character is played by that reliable character actor Gordon Harker who combines his usual roles of detective and Cockney tearaway and imbuing it all with his traditional humour. Quite an entertaining film which i kept from its last airing on Channel 4 about 20 years ago.I am afraid that there is little chance of it turning up again on TV in the near future.