Dad's Army (1971) on Netflix
As World War Two begins, bank manager George Mainwaring forms a Home Guard platoon in Walmington-on-Sea. His elderly volunteers face a training weekend under Major-General Fullard.
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- Netflix2.5/5
- IMDb6.9/103,976 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes31%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1940, a radio broadcast from Anthony Eden tells Britain that the Local Defence Volunteers are being formed. In the seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, bank manager George Mainwaring signs up volunteers at the police station and takes over the church hall for the new unit. He becomes captain, Arthur Wilson serves as sergeant, butcher Jack Jones is lance corporal, and James Frazer, Charles Godfrey, Frank Pike and Joe Walker join as privates. The platoon is ordered to a training weekend of wargame exercises. Major-General Fullard, already irritated because Mainwaring has refused to cash his check at the bank, watches their performance, and mishaps during the first day's exercise anger Fullard further.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dad's Army (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Columbia dropped Janet Davies, the television series' Mrs Pike, for Liz Fraser of the Carry On films, wanting a better-known and, in Cohen's view, less homely actress. Jimmy Perry called it a mistake in 1997, as viewers had come to know Davies in the part.
- Columbia gave the production six weeks to finish, a span the writer Graham McCann said sent cast and crew a clear message that nobody would be encouraged to stop and polish anything.
- Shooting started at Shepperton Studios on 10 August 1970, at such a low point for the British film industry that for the first week Dad's Army was the only film being made on the lot.
- Columbia moved the exteriors from Thetford in Norfolk, used by the television series, to Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire to make the story more "dynamic". Ian Lavender recalled the changes seeming arbitrary, noting the new location "wasn't any nearer to the seaside".
