THE DAY WILL DAWN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 222, 24 September 1943, Page 11

THE DAY WILL DAWN

(Gaumont-British)

ITH the approval of the Admiralty and the help of the Norwegian Government, says the introduction of The Day Will Dawn, "this film was

made in the faith that those who batter down the prison gates from without will find brave allies among the prisoners within." The prison gates, in this particular case, are in Norway; and the batterers are the Royal Navy and the R.A.F. helped by. an Ascot racing reporter (a member of the aristocracy, according to his fellow-workers), suddenly turned foreign correspondent for his London paper; and the brave allies within the gates are Norwegian fisher folk and villagers, who fearfully and with great care defy the occupying Nazis. Ralph Richardson, Hugh Williams, Deborah Kerr, with Harold French directing, make parts of The Day Will Dawn a moving and memorable account of danger and suffering; but now and again something slips and the faked, the staged, the rehearsed speech or action is thrust too blatantly before the longsuffering viewer of propaganda films. en that happens, I wish fervently I were looking at a stark documentary without benefit of central love-story,

particularised heroism, or carefullyworded script. For instance, Ralph Richardson in a London pub, delivering the more or less set speech about all being in it now, fighting for our own freedom as well as the freedom of all peace-loving peoples. Who could do it better? Who could wave such a _ convincing pipe? Very, very good, Mr. Richardson. But what about that pub audience of stuffed dummies holding handles at just such an angle, opening mouths just so wide, and eyes glazing with just that traditional look of the Dawn of Patriotism? Surely we can expect a London pub scene to look cosier than a corner of Madame Tussaud’s. I'll bet it wasn’t beer or Scotch they were drinkihg anyway. Water, you may be sure; nice, safe, rehearsed water. Deborah Kerr, frightened daughter of a Norwegian fiord steamer captain, knowing much and suspecting more about Nazi activities in the village; Hugh Williams, reporter, becoming aware, just too late for his comfort, of the danger about him; and a few villagers who know very much too much about the U-boat activity — these are the actors who do their best, and a pretty good best, with the difficult story in their hands. : No one in the audience wanted them to be shot by the Nazi firing squad at dawn; but everyone seemed to be as —

astonished as I was when the Navy suddenly arrived, unheralded by even one shot» from those strong Nazis, unloaded in orderly columns at the wharf, took all the Nazis prisoner (except the two who shot each other), released the hero and. heroine, and set off for England, speeded by the happy waving of the villagers. Well, that’s war at dawn in one camera’s eye.