The critics, as well as audiences, loved this film and they were right. It's entertainment all the way and deserves a place among all those realistic films such as Way to the Stars and Millions Like Us as one of the finest pictures of the war. J.B. Priestley's tale of locals trying to take control of their town's entertainment hall gave him the perfect opportunity to combine the two. Alastair Sim takes the lead as a Czech professor who gets involved in the struggle but it's not one of his better performances. Fred Emney steals every scene he appears in.
Script adapt .
Dirk Bogarde is the man with the memory loss suing Paul Massie for libellously accusing him of being an impostor. The star has a good role but the drama is wildly improbable. Only The Archers could make a war film with a sympathetic German and an incompetent British officer. And only they could make a film with such verve. There was a time when you couldn't turn on the telly without seeing him as guest villain in The Sweeny or The Saint.