Review for Warn that Man

‘Warn That Man’ is a very stagy wartime film adaption of a Vernon Sylvaine stage play dealing with an imagined Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill; a plot which was revisited to greater effect three decades later in the immensely watchable ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. Unlike that film, ‘Warn That Man’ can’t decide whether it’s a comedy or a drama and ends up being a luke-warm representation of both.


It features ‘cheery cockney chappy’ Gordon Harker who was an immensely popular music hall comedian of the day (as well as chalking up some sixty film appearances) and plenty of airtime is given to his routines. He’s ably abetted by Canadian-born Raymond Lovell and British film stalwart Finlay Currie.


It was made during one of the most challenging years of the war (1943) for the home crowd in Britain and plays to this magnificently leaving the viewer in no doubt about the evil nature of the Nazi intent as well as our ability to run rings around them even in great adversity. I think it’s fair to say it stops short of being out and out propaganda though – entertainment and diversion are clearly its key goals.


Nazi intelligence discovers that an unnamed British leader is due to stay at the country home of Lord Buckley. Using the talents of a great German actor, they plot to kidnap the real Lord Buckley and replace him with a doppelganger. Along with a bunch of German henchmen, he is to kidnap the British dignitary (we know its Churchill though it’s never said) and take him back to Germany on a plane.


However, they hadn’t banked on three sailors turning up out the blue – a captain and two of his crew, who would not be so easily fooled. (George Hawkins (Gordon Harker), John Cooper (Phillip Friend) and Captain Fletcher (Finlay Currrie)). When they are given doctored brandies to knock them out at the end of a meal, two of the group manage to throw it away without drinking it and merely pretend to have been knocked out, freeing themselves to liaise with the real Lord Buckley’s daughter to save the day.


The whole thing creaks a bit due to its limited budget and stage scope but Harker’s cheery cockney humour , bravery and general bonhomie saves the day. Raymond Lovell as both the real Lord Buckley and the German imposter does a perfectly good and workmanlike job of that role too. It moves along at a fairly measured pace and descends into classic farce on more than one occasion with people creeping round the house, jumping from room to room or hiding in wardrobes.


The transfer of the film, presented in original aspect ratio, is absolutely first class and the fact that such a first class print was available may account for Network also releasing this on Blu-Ray which I imagine looks excellent for such a low-budget film of this vintage.


The only extra feature is a PDF of a publicity piece for the original stage play for 'Warn that Man' and another Sylvaine play, a really nice addition which only Network seem to provide. It's amazing how many brands are advertised on it that are still available today. 


‘Warn That Man’ will appeal to British movie lovers who will appreciate the film in its historic context and who might enjoy the period music-hall style humour. I don’t think there’s much here to recommend it to anyone else.