''Warn That Man'' is a 1943 British

comedy thriller film Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers. Criteria They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor. List of comedy thriller films * '' The Big Fix'' (1978) * ''Charad ...

directed by

Lawrence Huntington Lawrence Huntington (1900–1968) was a British film director, screenwriter and producer. Huntington was born in London on 9 March 1900, he directed more than thirty films following his debut feature ''After Many Years'' (1930). He later worked ...

and starring

Gordon Harker William Gordon Harker (7 August 1885 – 2 March 1967) was an English stage and film actor. Harker was one of the sons of Sarah Elizabeth Harker, née Hall, (1856–1927), and Joseph Harker (1855–1927), a much admired set painter for the ...

Raymond Lovell Raymond Lovell (13 April 1900 – 1 October 1953) was a Canadian-born actor who performed in British films. He mainly played supporting roles, often somewhat pompous characters. Lovell initially trained as a physician at Cambridge University, ...

and Finlay Currie. It was based on the 1941 play '' Warn That Man!'' by

Vernon Sylvaine Vernon Sylvaine (1896–1957) was a British playwright and screenwriter. He is known for writing several popular stage farces. He began working in film in 1937 when his stage hit ''Aren't Men Beasts!'' was turned into a film of the same title s ...

which had run for ten months on the West End stage, with Harker reprising his original role. The film was made at

Welwyn Studios Welwyn Studios was a British film studio located at Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City, in Hertfordshire. The facility operated between 1928 and 1950. The studios were first constructed by British Instructional Films, and converted to make sou ...

, with sets designed by the art director Charles Gilbert. The plot is noted for the similarity of the later '' The Eagle Has Landed'' which also concerns a plot to kidnap

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

from rural England.

Premise

At a country house 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 ...

, an impersonator takes the place of a peer as part of a German attempt to kidnap the Prime Minister Winston Churchill when he visits the estate. Unfortunately for their plans, the niece of a peer arrives unannounced along with three sailors she has recently met.

Cast

as George Hawkins *

as Hausemann / Lord Buckley * Finlay Currie as Captain Andrew Fletcher *

Philip Friend Philip Wyndham Friend (20 February 1915 in Horsham, Sussex – 1 September 1987 in Chiddingfold, Surrey) was a British film and television actor. Career Britain Friend went to Bradfield College where he became interested in acting. He began ...

as John Cooper *

Jean Kent Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress. Biography Born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only child of va ...

as Frances Lane * Frederick Cooper as Charles / Frampton *

Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop. In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fra ...

as Schultz *

John Salew John Rylett Salew (1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled ...

as Wilson *

Veronica Rose Veronica Rose (8 July 1911 – 25 January 1968) was a British stage and film actress. During the 1930s she appeared in a number of films directed by or starring her father-in-law Tom Walls, including several Aldwych Farce adaptations. Selecte ...

as Miss Conway *

Anthony Hawtrey Anthony John Hawtrey (22 January 1909 – 18 October 1954) was an English actor and stage director. He began his acting career in 1930 and began directing by 1939. As director of the Embassy Theatre in London, his productions sometimes achieved ...

as Brent * Anthony Holles as Waiter * Patrick Aherne as Mellows * Frank Bagnall as Lehmann *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...

as German Radio Operator * Friedrich Richter as Wolheim * Leonard Sharp as Miles

References

Bibliography

* Fox, Jo. ''

Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany ''Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema'' is a 2007 book written by Jo Fox Joanne Clare Fox is a British historian specialising in the history of film and propaganda in twentieth-century Europe. From 2018 to 2020 s ...

: World War II Cinema''. Bloomsbury Academic, 2007.

External links

* 1943 films 1940s comedy thriller films Films directed by Lawrence Huntington Films shot at Welwyn Studios Films set in England Films set in London British films based on plays British black-and-white films British comedy thriller films 1943 comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films {{1940s-thriller-film-stub