Riposte à Narvik

There have been plenty of fine war films and ones with a message or dealing with specific conflicts, am never going to dismiss every war film made during WW2 propaganda straight off the bat because many were more than that. 'The Day Will Dawn' was primarily seen for the cast, hard to go wrong with Deborah Kerr (in an early role), Finlay Currie and Francis L Sullivan, and because it was another film chosen to watch when visiting my godparents.

My feelings on 'The Day Will Dawn' were mostly moderately positive, while not being bowled over. Was to be honest expecting more considering the calibre of the cast, but considering the general reputation of similar films centered around WW2 it also could have been worse. 'The Day Will Dawn's' good intentions were truly admirable and very obvious and there are many good things, though more subtlety and consistency would have made it quite a bit better.

Am going to start with the good. The cast mostly are fine. Kerr did go on to do better and has an accent that would never pass for Norweigan in a million years, but she gives poignant dignity to a rather colourless role (particularly evident in the prison scene awaiting execution). Sullivan was seldom more malevolent than he is here and Currie is larger than life and touching. There is some nice photography and a stirring score.

Did think too that enough of the action roused, while the prison scene was pretty heart-wrenching and the climax terrifying. It also starts off with great promise and is well directed.

On the other hand, Hugh Williams has a very bland character and is too stiff and restrained in it. The pacing is not always consistent, at times it's perfect and exciting and at other times it could have been a good deal tauter and less deliberate.

While the intentions are obvious, good and noble, the film did feel heavy handed and pretty much reiterated what many know already regarding how evil the opposition was. While photographed well, 'The Day Will Dawn' is not that well made visually, with some cheap settings and over obvious, overused and even cheaper stock footage that is clumsily inserted.

In conclusion, above average if unexceptional. 6/10.

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.

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.

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.

We have seen this before, the freedom fighters of Norway under Nazi occupation, their hardship, their courage, their determination, their heroism and so on, and if this film at least is better than "The Moon Is Down" on the same theme, it's not up to Errol Flynn's "The Edge of Darkness". The one outstanding asset of this film though is the leading lady, a very young Deborah Kerr, who in a way sustains the whole movie. In the beginning she is just a very cheerful and happy Norwegian lass, but when the Germans come to build an oil refinery, which turns out to be a submarine base, the Norwegians get into trouble, and in order to save her father's life (Finlay Currie) Deborah has to marry the local Quisling, the local police, whom the Norwegians don't know at first that he is collaborating with the Germans (Francis L. Sullivan, awesome as usual.) When Hugh Williams as an English spy learns this on his second coming, he fell in love with Deborah during the first, he is not very happy.

It's a very typical British edifying war film from the very darkest year 1942 and sides with many others of the same kind, outdated today, but still interesting for their great moral enthusiasm about surviving and fighting tyranny.