“AN ENGLISHMAN’S HOME”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1940, Page 9

“AN ENGLISHMAN’S HOME”

I THRILLING SPY DRAMA. COMING TO STATE THEATRE TOMORROW. The thrilling spy drama, “An Englishman's Home.” which will open on Friday at the State' Theatre, was adapted from the play by Guy du Maurier, which was originally written to warn England of the perils of unpreparedness. As a play “An Englishman’s Home” was first banned on the ground that the invaders might be identified with the Germans. Special uniforms were invented, and the play was put on and accepted as "being worth more in the cause of national service than all the speeches ever made. In Berlin it was hissed off the stage. The story of “An Englishman’s Home” deals with a typical Englishman (Edmund Gwenn) who is firmly convinced that all these ridiculous war preparations are so much waste of good money. Unwittingly, however, his home harbours an enemy spy. Betty Brown (Mary Maguire), his impressionable young daughter, completely falls in love with the spy, with whom she arranges to elope. Meanwhile, whilst the Brown family are celebrating the old man’s birthday, the spy receives his orders. The swift capture of the house by armed parachutists dropped from enemy planes, the unmasking of the spy, the murder of old Brown, the escape of Betty's fiance and his dash to his army unit, the British Air Fleet warned, the destruction of the Browns I home with its radio and the confusion | of the enemy attacking London, and | the final view of the armed might of Great Britain, lift the picture to a terrific climax. The Air Ministry put at the disposal of the producers whole squadrons of their latest ’planes, including Blenheim and Wellington bombers, Spitfires, Bombay troop-carriers and Lysandei machines. The result is a marvellously realistic production, with some tremendously impressive flying shots. “An Englishman’s Home, which is being released by United Artists, is a timely offering, and a thrilling contribution to our patriotic effort.