Frieda

During the war the English pilot Robert Dawson is shot down and got away by a German woman, Frieda; to get her out of the country he offers to marry her, though he does not in fact love her. When the war ends the two return to the village in Oxfordshire, and the real matter begins there: the town will not accept her because she is German, the way she is looked at changes even within the family, and Robert is slow to understand what he has done. Basil Dearden’s ninety eight minute British film asks what is to be done once the face of the enemy belongs to a person, a question that was hard to ask as soon as the war ended. It was made at Ealing Studios for Michael Balcon and adapted from Ronald Millar’s 1946 play. Mai Zetterling plays Frieda and David Farrar plays Robert, with Glynis Johns and Flora Robson in the cast. It was completed in 1947.