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.
6 Reviews
Landing the eagle.
morrison-dylan-fan15 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
With my dads birthday coming up later this week,I started looking for movies on the Network site that he would enjoy.Having read about the title in an old issue of Empire magazine,I was happy to spot a film which is the near-forgotten first take on The Eagle Has Landed,which led to me getting ready to see the eagle land.
The plot:
Coming up with ways to kidnap Winston Churchill,a group of Nazis notice that stage actor Hausemann looks just like Churchill's pal Lord Buckley. Believing that Churchill could be kidnapped from Buckley's mansion, Hausemann and a gang of Nazis sneak into Britain.Knocking Buckley out, Hausemann start practising for Churchill's arrival.As rehearsals are underway, Hausemann's plans are interrupted by three unexpected guests.
View on the film:
Sending the eagle high in the sky,Network give the title a spiffing Blu-Ray transfer,with the sound and picture quality likely being far better than when it was shown on the big screen in the early 40's.
Rationed to mostly being stuck in one location,co-writer/(along with Vernon Sylvaine) director Lawrence Huntington and cinematographer Günther Krampf give the flick a touch of Film Noir class,as classy low-lighting covers Buckley's mansion and allows the Nazis to hide in the shadows. Based on Sylvaine's own play,the screenplay by Huntington and Sylvaine boils up WWII heroics with variety show Comedy,where the cunning Nazi plan moves at a surprisingly speedy pace,partly thanks to the childish,but funny one liners,which dart across Buckley's mansion,as the eagle lands.
The plot:
Coming up with ways to kidnap Winston Churchill,a group of Nazis notice that stage actor Hausemann looks just like Churchill's pal Lord Buckley. Believing that Churchill could be kidnapped from Buckley's mansion, Hausemann and a gang of Nazis sneak into Britain.Knocking Buckley out, Hausemann start practising for Churchill's arrival.As rehearsals are underway, Hausemann's plans are interrupted by three unexpected guests.
View on the film:
Sending the eagle high in the sky,Network give the title a spiffing Blu-Ray transfer,with the sound and picture quality likely being far better than when it was shown on the big screen in the early 40's.
Rationed to mostly being stuck in one location,co-writer/(along with Vernon Sylvaine) director Lawrence Huntington and cinematographer Günther Krampf give the flick a touch of Film Noir class,as classy low-lighting covers Buckley's mansion and allows the Nazis to hide in the shadows. Based on Sylvaine's own play,the screenplay by Huntington and Sylvaine boils up WWII heroics with variety show Comedy,where the cunning Nazi plan moves at a surprisingly speedy pace,partly thanks to the childish,but funny one liners,which dart across Buckley's mansion,as the eagle lands.
Flows effortlessly
Leofwine_draca3 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I had no idea what to make of this wartime comedy/thriller but it turns out to be a simple 'old dark house' style drama in which an assorted group of larger-than-life characters end up stranded. Some of them are Nazis - inevitable, given that this was made in 1943 - while the "goodies" are led by the excellent Gordon Harker, on form with his witty wisecracks as always. Lots of murderous developments and funny situations ensue, and it all flows effortlessly along.
Take it for what it is
menageriefield22 April 2021
Nazis at Buckley Hall
richardchatten15 September 2020
German agent Raymond Lovell is called upon to impersonate Lord Buckley, who fortuitously speaks with exactly the same fruity lisp; but being German (along with the German national anthem constantly on the soundtrack every time he does something) gives himself away by not knowing the correct direction to pass the port. His Prussian handler played by Carl Jaffe seems initially to have been meant to be Goebbels himself until he himself turns up at Buckley Hall (presumably by parachute).
Based on a 1941 West End hit by Vernon Sylvaine. Although sharing the same basic premise with 'The Eagle Has Landed', Ealing's 'Went the Day Well?' is actually far more like the later film; and neither of them had Gordon Harker barge in halfway through. Quite a few people die violently, but this is all treated as inconsequentially as in one of those garrulous pre-war murder mysteries set in enormous houses with sweeping if wobbly staircases in which log fires and lights blaze seemingly untended all night (despite the reference to wartime shortages shoehorned into the script...).
Based on a 1941 West End hit by Vernon Sylvaine. Although sharing the same basic premise with 'The Eagle Has Landed', Ealing's 'Went the Day Well?' is actually far more like the later film; and neither of them had Gordon Harker barge in halfway through. Quite a few people die violently, but this is all treated as inconsequentially as in one of those garrulous pre-war murder mysteries set in enormous houses with sweeping if wobbly staircases in which log fires and lights blaze seemingly untended all night (despite the reference to wartime shortages shoehorned into the script...).
A rather feeble effort
robert-temple-119 February 2017
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.
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