Some time back, TCM did a birthday tribute of movies starring British actress Flora Robson. One of the movies that I hadn't heard of before sounded interesting enough, so I decided to record it: Great Day, which is obviously not to be confused with Great Day in the Morning or other movies with similar titles.
It's 1944 in Denley, one of those small towns in England that would have been considered idyllic in the days before World War II began, although obviously that war has changed everything. The local women, as in many towns, have formed a "Women's Institute" to help do charity things for the men on the front. One day, the women of the Institute are called for a special meeting: they're told that US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt will be visiting the following day to see how local women on the British homefront are getting along, but that this news is a secret. That seems a bit of a plot hole in that first, can an entire town keep news like this a secret, and second, how did the rest of the town know to show up if only the Women's Institute members were informed of the visit.
But then, the impending visit of Mrs. Roosevelt isn't the point of the movie. Instead, the movie looks at how the war has been affecting the village, with a closer look at one family in particular, the Ellis family. Flora Robson plays Elizabeth, the matriarch of the family, who has been keeping the family going during the war even though that's not always easy. First is that there's a consistent strain between Elizabeth and her husband John (Eric Portman). John had served in the Great War, but has reached the age where there's not much for him to do in a small village like this. He doesn't seem to have a job and has turned to drink as well as memories of his heroic service in the previous war, clearly feeling emasculated. He's also reached the point that the local pub doesn't want to extend any more credit.
The Ellises have an adult daughter, Margaret (Sheila Sim), who has a complicated life of her own. She's a Land Girl, one of those young women who worked on the farms during the war while so many of the men were away fighting since Britain didn't have quite so many men to spare as the US. In her case, she's lucky to be able to work on one close to home, run by unmarried Bob Tyndale (Walter Fitzgerald). He's much older than Margaret, but he's a thoroughly decent human being, and genuinely likes Margaret. He's asked for her hand in marriage, and Margaret is not unwilling to accept, knowing that such a marriage would provide the financial stability that she can't get from her home life. However, she hasn't made the engagement public for a couple of reasons. One is that Bob has a nasty sister who thinks that Margaret is just a gold digger. But the other is that before working on the farm, Margaret has a boyfriend in Geoffrey, who is now fighting the war. Well technically not now, as he's got a couple days' leave and shows up in Denley hoping to see Margaret. Margaret doesn't want to break his heart; and besides, she still loves Geoffrey while only considering Bob a friend.
Both story lines reach a climax that evening, with a few other minor subplots worked in, like making alterations to a dress for the little girl who's supposed to deliver a message to Eleanor Roosevelt. All of the subplots are worked out, and Roosevelt, seen only as an arm, shows up with the locals considering this a great morale booster.
Great Day isn't a bad movie if you could judge it on its own. But it has a couple of issues in that you can't really judge it for what it is. One is that it was released a year after A Canterbury Tale, and even stars two of the leads from that movie in Portman and Sim. A Canterbury Tale is one of the great British World War II movies, while Great Day is much more a programmer. But Great Day also had the misfortune of going into production too late, only getting a release in April of 1945 (and well after the war when RKO distributed it in the US), by which time the need for such a morale-booster had passed.
Great Day is an OK movie punctuated by good performances from Robson and Portman. But as far as British World War II movies go, I'd definitely select A Canterbury Tale, or even Millions Like Us.
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