The Foreman Went to France (1942) (2025)

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1942

Directed by Charles Frend

Synopsis

Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment.

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• Cast
• Crew
• Details
• Genres
• Releases

Cast

Clifford Evans Constance Cummings Tommy Trinder Gordon Jackson Robert Morley Owen Reynolds Bill Blewitt Charles Victor John Williams Anthony Ainley Ronald Adam Anita Palacine Ernest Milton Paul Bonifas Francis L. Sullivan Thora Hird Mervyn Johns Eric Maturin John Boxer

DirectorDirector

Charles Frend

ProducersProducers

Michael Balcon Alberto Cavalcanti

WritersWriters

Leslie Arliss Angus MacPhail John Dighton

StoryStory

J. B. Priestley See AlsoThe Foreman Went to France (1942)

EditorEditor

Robert Hamer

CinematographyCinematography

Wilkie Cooper

Assistant DirectorAsst. Director

Ronald Brantford

Camera OperatorCamera Operator

Cecil Cooney

Art DirectionArt Direction

Thomas N. Morahan

ComposerComposer

William Walton

Studio

Ealing Studios

Country

UK

Primary Language

English

Spoken Languages

English French

Alternative Titles

Somewhere in France, Mistr jede do Francie, El capatàs se’n va anar a França

Genres

War Drama

Releases by Date

Date

• Date
• Country

Theatrical

22 Jun 1942

• UKU

19 Oct 1945

• Czechoslovakia

Releases by Country

Country

• Date
• Country

Czechoslovakia

• Theatrical

UK

• TheatricalU

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Popular reviews

• Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 ★★★★ 2

  One of the earliest Ealing comedies, The Foreman Went to France probably deserves to be remembered as one of its more notables too.

  Based on Melbourne Johns' trip to France to beat the advancing Nazis to some machinery that would be brought back to Britain to make aircraft guns, it was reportedly partially funded by the War Office, and as such is easily passed off as propaganda.

  Technically it is, but at the same time director Charles Frend keeps it so far in the background that it's barely noticeable. Frend was a fine director who made a number of superb films, so his ability to keep the propaganda to one side so as to focus on the main story is…

• Review by Niall Urquhart ★★★½

  For a propaganda film, this was much better than I expected. Setting it in France just as the Germans are invading worked very well narratively and I'm sure as propaganda too. The cast were all good. I particularly liked Tommy Trinder as the affable soldier. His interactions with the French children in particular were a lot of fun. It was all quite contrived and there was never any real tension but I don't think that was the point. Lots of little cameos to enjoy too.

• Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★

  "We shall owe everything to your country, monsieur. One day, when France lives again"

  So says Francis L. Sullivan's French skipper in the final moment of this Ealing propaganda flick starring Tommy Trinder, Clifford Evans and Constance Cummings. Like Trinder's other Ealing wartime comedy drama The Bells Go Down, this was a much watched favourite in my childhood and, when Sullivan uttered those words at the close of the film, my dad, a confirmed Eurosceptic, would say, with tongue only slightly in cheek, "Aye, and we're still waiting for that debt to be repaid".

  Ealing Studios head Michael Balcon's approach to propaganda was to find stories, torn from the headlines, that not only inspired the ordinary working class audiences on…

• Review by RKO_Chester ★★½

  A real story (but embellished) and at least 50% of this wartime film made during wartime really makes you feel the chaos in France from the National Socialists' invasion.

  For that it is worth watching. + is has a good end scene. Constance Cummings is good in this. And Clifford Evans also gives a realistic performance (as British factory manager sent into France o try to retrieve 3 Deep Hole gun boring machines before they fall into the hands of the approaching Germans).

  6/10 (Too many rear projection driving scenes keep this from being even better.)

  If curious to see which other WW2-themed movies RKO Chester likes See my LIST here

• Review by Luke Thorne ★★★

  Charles Frend takes charge of this Ealing drama in which an aircraft factory foreman is sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment. Starring Clifford Evans, Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings and Gordon Jackson.

  The story concerns an English factory worker called Fred Carrick (Clifford Evans) is referred to France to get vital apparatus in expectation of a Nazi attack of the United Kingdom.

  He is helped by an American woman (Constance Cummings), two British troops (Tommy Trinder and Gordon Jackson), a French mayor (Robert Morley), a passport official (Mervyn Johns), and a stationmaster (Ernest Milton).

  The film discovers how people, no matter how dissimilar, can accomplish the almost impossible when they group together.

  Clifford Evans…

• Review by Giles_L ★★★½

  "I suppose this is what the English call muddling through."

  Bloody French, all fifth columnists and no bloomin' tea either, is it any wonder they were overrun by the Germans. Stirring Ealing WWII propaganda with a few laughs courtesy of 'you lucky people' Tommy Trinder and a baby faced Gordon Jackson. A Fascinating glimpse into wartime attitudes and very unsympathetic to the French government's efforts to thwart Hitler. Clifford Evans is the earnest Welsh hero Fred Carrick based on the real life exploits of Melbourne Johns, the titular foreman who rescued vital machinery from France to keep the Spitfires shooting. Best line, "I'm talking about something more important than curry powder."

• Review by Gary Davidson ★★★

  Rather good drama as Evans attempts to retrieve machinery vital for the war effort aided by Cummings, Trinder and a baby faced Jackson.

  It’s difficult to get excited by the machine plot but the various hazards the group encounter are interesting enough to make up for it.

  Trinder’s usual comic persona is wisely restrained here.

• Review by joelnox ★★★★

  At first this appears that this is going to be a lighthearted lark about an ambitious Englishman who wants to grab some military equipment out of France to keep it out of the hands of the enemy but once it gets going it takes a much more serious turn. Once that turn comes the film becomes much more involving as our small band of likable characters confront one harrowing situation after the other.

• Review by PUNQ ★★

  Felt like a unfunny wartime It Happened One Night (1934) more than anything else, though it tries to a patriotic companion of The First of the Few (1942) in out-witting the German's at their own game.

• Review by Richard Cross ★★★

  A British factory foreman goes to France just as the Nazis invade in order to retrieve three industrial machines that simply mustn't fall into the hands of the enemy (quite what these machines actually do is never really explained, but they're frightfully important.) It's based on a true story, and feels like it should be a grim but inspiring drama, but it's more of an action comedy thanks to the presence of semi-comic sidekick (despite leading man status) Tommy Trinder as a squaddie who, together with a young Gordon Jackson in his first credited role, helps dashing young foreman Clifford Evans in his mission. It's decent enough, despite the odd tone, although it could have done with more of Robert Morley and Francis L. Sullivan (who is credited as Francois Sully, presumably becausee he's playing a French sailor.