An Englishman's Home

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 and who was to be killed in France in 1915.{{cite book|first=Andrew|last=Birkin|page=173|title=J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys|isbn=978-0-300-09822-8|date=December 2002}}

It first played at Wyndham's Theatre on 27 JanuaryMacKenzie 1992 and went on to be a long-running success. It is now considered a typical example of the invasion literature popular at the time.Fussell 1998 The play was produced by Guy's brother Gerald du Maurier, possibly without his knowledge and with some assistance from J. M. Barrie.Eby 1987 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.{{cite book|first=Andrew|last=Birkin|page=242|title=J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys|isbn=978-0-300-09822-8|date=December 2002}}

The play stressed Britain's unpreparedness for attack, and has been credited with boosting recruitment to the Territorial Force in the years immediately before World War I. The play was revived on stage in May 1939 at London's Prince's Theatre.Cooper 2012, Chapter 2 It influenced niece Daphne du Maurier's 1952 novelette The Birds,Auerbach 2002 which was made into a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

In 1914, the play was made into a silent film directed by Ernest Batley.IMDB: An Englishman's Home

{{Infobox film

| name = An Englishman's Home

| image =

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| starring = Edmund Gwenn

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| released = {{Film date|1940}}

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| language = English

| country = United Kingdom

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| budget = £100,000{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96323050 |title=BRITAIN'S FIRST WAR FILM SINCE OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. |newspaper=Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 – 1954) |location=Port Pirie, SA |date=2 January 1940 |access-date=21 February 2016 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

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Du Maurier's play was also the basis for the 1940 British drama film of the same name directed by Albert de Courville and starring Edmund Gwenn, Mary Maguire and Paul Henreid.The Spectator, 5 October 1939 A German spy is despatched to Britain to search out targets for a planned invasion.BFI Film & TV Database The film, which was also known as "Mad Men of Europe", was released in the UK by United Artists on 27 January 1940 and in the US by Columbia Pictures 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.

• Edmund Gwenn ... Tom Brown
• Mary Maguire ... Betty Brown
• Paul Henreid ... Victor Brandt
• Carl Jaffe ... Martin
• Norah Howard ... Maggie
• Geoffrey Toone ... Peter Templeton
• Richard Ainley ... Geoffrey Brown
• Desmond Tester ... Billy Brown
• Meinhart Maur ... Waldo
• Mavis Villiers ... Dolly
• Mark Lester ... Uncle Ben
• John Wood ... Jimmy

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book |title=Daphne Du Maurier: Haunted Heiress |last=Auerbach |first=Nina |year=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1836-1 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yUvenAe8xPgC |access-date=11 November 2011 |ref=Aue02}}
• {{cite book |title=The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players |first=Stephen |last=Cooper |publisher=The History Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0752479354 |ref=Coo12 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/finalwhistlegrea0000coop }}
• {{cite book |title=The road to Armageddon: the martial spirit in English popular literature |last=Eby |first=Cecil D |page=[https://archive.org/details/roadtoarmageddon00ebyc/page/137 137] |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-8223-0775-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/roadtoarmageddon00ebyc |url-access=registration |access-date=12 November 2011 |ref=Eby87}}
• {{cite book |last= Fussell|first= Paul |title= The Great War and Modern Memory |publisher= Sterling Publishing Company |year= 1998 |isbn= 1-4027-6439-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjPNm7jgyQ4C |access-date=11 November 2011 |edition=illustrated |page=242 |ref=Fus98}}
• {{cite book |last=MacKenzie |first=John M. |title=Popular imperialism and the military: 1850–1950 |year=1992 |pages=195–196 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=0-7190-3358-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IfToAAAAIAAJ |access-date=11 November 2011 |ref=Mac92}}
• {{cite book |title=Glimpses of Authors |url=https://archive.org/details/afw0643.0001.001.umich.edu |last=Ticknor |first=Caroline |year=1922 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=[https://archive.org/details/afw0643.0001.001.umich.edu/page/278 278]–9 |ref=Tic22|ol=6648008M }}
• {{cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/198446 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113210730/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/198446 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 January 2009 |title=An Englishman's Home |work=BFI Film & TV Database |access-date=11 November 2011}}
• {{cite web |publisher=Internet Movie Database |title=An Englishman's Home |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2136730/ |ref=Imdb14}}
• {{cite web |publisher=Internet Movie Database |title=Mad Men of Europe |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031272/ |ref=Imdb39}}
• {{cite web |work=The Spectator |title=The Cinema |date= 6 October 1939 |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/6th-october-1939/15/the-cinema |ref=Spe39}}

• {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/anenglishmansho00maurgoog |title=An Englishman's Home |access-date=11 November 2011}}
• {{IBDB show|1551}}

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Category:British plays adapted into films

Category:1909 plays