''An Englishman's Home'' is a threat-of-invasion play by

Guy du Maurier Guy Louis Busson du Maurier DSO (18 May 1865, London, England – 9 March 1915, Kemmel, Flanders, Belgium) was an English army officer and playwright. He was the son of the writer George du Maurier and brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and ...

, first produced in 1909. The title is a reference to the expression "

an Englishman's home is his castle ''Semayne's Case'' (January 1, 1604) 5 Coke Rep. 91, is an English common law case reported by Sir Edward Coke, who was then the Attorney General of England. In the United States, it is recognized as establishing the "knock-and-announce" rule. ...

Play

''An Englishman's Home'' caused a sensation in London when it appeared anonymously, under the name "A Patriot", in 1909. Ticknor 1922 The writer Guy du Maurier was a regular officer in the British Army, who had seen active service during the

South African War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

and who was to be killed in France in 1915. It first played at

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

on 27 January MacKenzie 1992 and went on to be a long-running success. It is now considered a typical example of the

invasion literature Invasion literature (also the invasion novel) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the First World War (1914–1918). The invasion novel first was recognized as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella '' The B ...

popular at the time. The play was produced by Guy's brother

Gerald du Maurier Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier (26 March 1873 – 11 April 1934) was an English actor and manager. He was the son of author George du Maurier and his wife, Emma Wightwick, and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1903, he m ...

, possibly without his knowledge and with some assistance from

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

. The story concerns an attack on England by a foreign power identified as "Nearland", generally assumed to represent Germany. The home of an ordinary middle-class family is besieged by Nearlander soldiers, and the play climaxes with the father shooting an enemy officer and subsequently being executed. In Guy du Maurier's original version the invaders triumph but J. M. Barrie and Gerald du Maurier revised the ending to provide a last-minute British victory. The play stressed Britain's unpreparedness for attack, and has been credited with boosting recruitment to the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

in the years immediately before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The play was revived on stage in May 1939 at London's

Prince's Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

. Cooper 2012, Chapter 2 It influenced niece

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geor ...

's 1952 novelette '' The Birds'', which was made into a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Film

1914 film

In 1914, the play was made into a silent film directed by

Ernest Batley Ernest George Batley (East London, 1874-Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the l ...

1939 film

Du Maurier's play was also the basis for the 1939 British drama film of the same name directed by

Albert de Courville Albert Pierre de Courville (26 March 1887 – 15 March 1960) (born in Croydon, England) was a writer and director of theatrical revues, many of which featured the actress and singer Shirley Kellogg, whom he married in June 1913. Career In abo ...

and starring

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won th ...

Mary Maguire Mary Maguire (born Hélène Teresa Maguire; 22 February 1919 – 18 May 1974) was an Australian-born actress who briefly became a Hollywood and British film star in the late 1930s. Early life Maguire was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Mic ...

and

Paul Henreid Paul Henreid (November 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian-British-American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles; Victor Laszlo in ''Casablanca'' and Jerry Durrance in ''Now, Voyager'', bo ...

. A German spy is despatched to Britain to search out targets for a planned invasion. The film, which was also known as "Mad Men of Europe", was released in the UK by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

on 27 January 1940 and in the US by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

on 26 June 1940. IMDB: Mad Men of Europe It was the first film with a wartime setting to be shown in London since the war began.

Cast

... Tom Brown *

... Betty Brown *

... Victor Brandt *

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 Fran ...

... Martin *

Norah Howard Norah Howard (12 December 1900 - 2 May 1968) was a British actress of stage and screen. Biography She was born as Norah Lillian Emily Smeed on 12 December 1900, in Fulham, London, England, her father was Alfred Howard Smeed. She changed her sta ...

... Maggie *

Geoffrey Toone Geoffrey Toone (15 November 1910 – 1 June 2005) was an English character actor and former matinee idol, born in Ireland. Most of his film roles after the 1930s were in supporting parts, usually as authority figures, though he did play the lead ...

... Peter Templeton *

Richard Ainley Richard Ainley (22 December 1910 – 18 May 1967) was a stage and film actor. He was born in Middlesex, England, the son of Henry Ainley and a half-brother of Anthony Ainley. Ainley made his stage debut in 1928, initially using the stage nam ...

... Geoffrey Brown *

Desmond Tester Sydney Desmond Tester (17 February 1919 – 31 December 2002) was an England, English film and television actor, Television presenter, host and executive. He was born in London, England, and started his career as child actor, among his most nota ...

... Billy Brown *

Meinhart Maur Meinhart Maur ( hu, Grünbaum Menyhért, 18 August 1891 – 27 November 1964) was a Hungarian-German film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1919 and 1954. He was born in Hajdúnánás, Hungary and died in London, England. Select ...

... Waldo *

Mavis Villiers Mavis Villiers (born Mavis Clare Cooney; 10 December 190923 February 1976) was an Australian-born British actress of stage, film and television. Her parents were John Cooney and Clara Smythe. Her brother, Cecil Cooney, was a camera operator an ...

... Dolly * Mark Lester ... Uncle Ben * John Wood ... Jimmy

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Englishman's Home, An British plays adapted into films 1909 plays 1940 films 1940 drama films Films directed by Albert de Courville British drama films United Artists films Columbia Pictures films British black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films