''Friend or Foe'' is a 1982 British independent film that was written and directed by

John Krish John Jeffrey Krish (4 December 1923 – 7 May 2016) was a British film director and screenwriter. He directed and filmed much archive footage and in particular ''Our School'' in 1962, showing the changing ways of Britain's school and the last ...

and produced by Gordon Scott for the

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

. The film, which was given a theatrical release in April 1982, is based on the 1977 children's novel by the same name by

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as ''War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytell ...

. It stars

John Bardon John Bardon (born John Michael Jones, 25 August 1939 – 12 September 2014) was an English stage and screen actor. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1988 (1987 season) for '' Kiss Me, Kate'', sharing the aw ...

, Stacy Tendeter, and John Holmes and concerns two young boys who are evacuated from London during World War II. The source novel was inspired by the

evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II The evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to protect people, especially children, from the risks associated with aerial bombing of cities by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. Under the na ...

. ''Friend or Foe'' was later shown as part of a theatrical retrospective of Krish's work in 2013 and was also screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2014.

Plot

During the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

two young boys, played by John Holmes and Mark Luxford, are evacuated from London to the countryside by train. Arriving in an unfamiliar village, they are taken in by a kindly dairy farmer, and soon become familiar with country life. Between lending a hand on the farm and attending the one-classroom village school, they spend their days exploring the fields and woods of the area, and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Then one night, there is a bombing raid near the village and the boys witness a German bomber come down. They try to tell the locals, but a search finds no evidence of a downed plane, and the boys are in trouble for wasting the police and the armed services’ time (the plane had actually come down in a pond and sunk out of sight). The boys encounter two German airmen hiding in the woods who are the only ones to have survived the crash. One of them saves one of the boys from drowning in the pond. The airmen both speak English and let the boys go, but ask them not to tell. The boys have a crisis of conscience as a result, but eventually decide to protect the Germans. When one of the airmen injures himself, he lets the boys 'capture' him, as he needs medical attention. The boys then become local heroes. The second German is later captured. The boys' foster family realise what happened. but are understanding of the situation.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception for ''Friend or Foe'' was positive. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' rated the film favorably, writing "It's more evidence that the Children's Film Foundation is presently moving toward front position in this difficult genre on the world scene."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0082420 1982 films 1982 drama films 1982 independent films 1980s war films British children's films British drama films British independent films British war drama films Children's drama films British World War II films 1980s children's films Films based on British novels Films based on children's books Films set on the home front during World War II Films about shot-down aviators Films about children 1980s English-language films 1980s British films