A Nazi spy has come to Walmington-on-Sea, and it is up to the well-meaning but rather inept batch of Home Guard spare-time "soldiers", led by the self-important Captain Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering, for those encountering this odd British pronunciation for the first time) to foil the plot.
The British TV sitcom on which this film is based ran from 1968 to 1977, but is so much-loved that its 80 episodes are on more or less constant rotation on repeat channels. So one approaches an adaptation 40 years on, with (of necessity) different actors, with curiosity and trepidation. The plot of this film is primarily functional – it provides a coherent storyline of sufficient length to let us see our characters, normally only seen in 30-minute bursts, do their stuff over 90 minutes. And that's the heart of it, really. Because these characters were so well designed in the first place that they are like suits of clothing, and what this film does is enable a different batch of actors to wear them. There may be differences in the facial resemblances (although the casting is excellent, and I was delighted to see Tom Courtenay underplaying Corporal Jones, in contrast to Clive Dunn's hammy over-acting, so out of place in the original), but these characters are recognisably the same as those from the TV series.
And the thing I particularly liked about this film – which is enjoyable and amusing, by the way – is that it is made quite clear that, despite their ineptitude, every one of these men is a hero: each one has a hero moment when you are left in no doubt as to their valour.
The British TV sitcom on which this film is based ran from 1968 to 1977, but is so much-loved that its 80 episodes are on more or less constant rotation on repeat channels. So one approaches an adaptation 40 years on, with (of necessity) different actors, with curiosity and trepidation. The plot of this film is primarily functional – it provides a coherent storyline of sufficient length to let us see our characters, normally only seen in 30-minute bursts, do their stuff over 90 minutes. And that's the heart of it, really. Because these characters were so well designed in the first place that they are like suits of clothing, and what this film does is enable a different batch of actors to wear them. There may be differences in the facial resemblances (although the casting is excellent, and I was delighted to see Tom Courtenay underplaying Corporal Jones, in contrast to Clive Dunn's hammy over-acting, so out of place in the original), but these characters are recognisably the same as those from the TV series.
And the thing I particularly liked about this film – which is enjoyable and amusing, by the way – is that it is made quite clear that, despite their ineptitude, every one of these men is a hero: each one has a hero moment when you are left in no doubt as to their valour.