The Foreman Went to France


The Foreman Went to France is a 1942 British Second World War war film starring Clifford Evans, Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings and Gordon Jackson. It was based on the real-life wartime exploits of Welsh munitions worker Melbourne Johns, who rescued machinery used to make guns for Spitfires and Hurricanes. It was an Ealing Studios film made in 1941 with the support of the War Office and the Free French Forces. All of the 'heroes' are portrayed as ordinary people caught up in the war.

Plot

In 1942, Welsh armaments factory foreman,Fred Carrick, goes to Bivary in France on his own initiative to retrieve three large pieces of machinery for making cannon for Spitfires. Critically these must be removed ahead of the German army reaching the town. In Bivary, he requests the aid of two soldiers and more importantly, their army lorry. He also gets the help of the company secretary in France, an American woman, who needs to go north to find her sister who is a nurse.
While in France, he learns about the rôle of the fifth column, and that even those in positions of authority such as the town mayor cannot always be trusted. During the race to the coast with the machines, he encounters a huge number of refugees fleeing the advancing Nazis and many more obstacles to halt his progress. They take half a dozen orphaned children on their journey. Tommy Trinder entertains the children with his humorous songs.

Cast

Dr. Keith M. Johnston, lecturer in Film & Television Studies at the University of East Anglia, described it as "a strange little propaganda piece, a flashback-structured film that dramatises the 'true' story of Melbourne Johns... Overall, this is a nicely done little film, but it survives largely because of a committed cast and some strong narrative elements."