Yes, another oldie that concerns World War II already, but that's about where the similarity ends. This one's serious, British, produced during said war, and devoid of any names familiar to me except writer Graham Greene.
In the fictional backwater English village of Bramley End (which Netflix misnames Bramley Green), German paratroopers show up disguised as British soldiers. Locals are just beginning to suspect them when they drop the act and capture almost the entire population in the church on Whitsunday. They demand complete obedience to give the outside world no clues, lest they kill more than the resisting parties. For about 48 hours (incidentally the title of another adaptation of the Greene story), the villagers do what they can to stop the invasion from progressing.
The action is pretty brisk at 92 minutes. You might think that should be plenty of time, by screen standards, to overthrow the invaders, but the resisters face obstacles beyond gunmen. First, village squire Oliver (Leslie Banks) is a secret traitor from the beginning; even his broken arm is a sham. Second, several moments, particularly in efforts to spread the word, are so unlucky it's almost funny. For the most part, the villagers have to rely on each other instead of calling in the cavalry.
By now you've probably deduced that there is no one standout hero. I rather like stories of that nature. One of the more distinctive heroes is George (Harry Fowler), a preteen boy affiliated with a woodland poacher. There are, of course, several men plotting surprise attacks, but the women get about an equal share in the heroism. It's kinda refreshing to see them take up honest-to-goodness arms; at the same time, I appreciate their distress when they've killed an enemy, however justly.
Another element I might call refreshing, tho there may be a better word for it, is the sheer villainy of the invaders, especially the lieutenant (David Farrar). Back when the extent of Nazi atrocities wasn't widely known, it seems to me that most filmmakers, at least in the U.S., would portray German soldiers as adversaries but not monsters. Here we have them planning to slaughter children as a disincentive after one family-less man tries and fails to escape. (Fair warning: Quite a few good guys die.) And as if it weren't laid on thick enough already, Oliver becomes a literal backstabber.
Unofficial propaganda or not, WtDW? is right up there with Man Hunt as one of my favorite mid-WWII war films. It's exciting, it doesn't shy from some bitter realities of war, and it still ekes out a victory for the right side.
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