This movie makes me embarrassed to be an Englishman. If I were a betting man I would say that I'm sure that these actors were chosen from the local village acting club.

Avoid at all costs.

You know you're in trouble when the DVD case for a World War II movie promises action that the filmmakers don't deliver. The cover depicts American Mustang fighter planes strafing an enemy airfield. At best, British writer & director Ben Mole's "We Go in at Dawn" gives us a glimpse of an airplane parked in a hanger. However, this is the only plane we are shown in the entire movie. Basically, this modest World War II movie concerns espionage behind enemy lines. One of the planners of the Second Front, i.e., D-Day, has been captured after his plane was shot down over occupied France. The only thing good about this unfortunate accident is the Germans don't realize the importance of this Englishman. Meantime, they keep him under close guard in a chateau in France until a high-ranking Gestapo officer can arrive to interrogate him. As it turns out, this Gestapo officer knows who the prisoner is, so the Allies can expect immediate action out of the Nazis. If the enemy are able to loosen this man's tongue, the plans for the historic invasion of Fortress Europa along the Normandy coastline on June 6th are compromised. Predictably, a seasoned English commando, who has survived behind enemy lines in the Balkans, is dispatched either to liberate this very important person or slip him a cyanide pill. The setting and the action of Mole's World War II thriller duplicates on a micro budget with considerably fewer explosives and bullets what highlighted Brian G. Hutton's explosive epic "Where Eagles Dare" (1968) starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. In "Where Eagles Dare," the Allies infiltrate a heavily armed castle nestled in the Bavarian Alps and rescue one of the chief coordinators of the Second Front before the Gestapo can extract value information out of him about the invasion. British commando officer John Seabourne (television actor Kelvin Fletcher) has grown as tired as anybody about the course of the war, and his daughter has suffered without a mother. She is going to visit relatives when the German Luftwaffe bomb the area and killed her. Naturally, Seabourne isn't happy about this tragic turn of events. Were this not enough bad news in his life, he learns that his superiors have a mission for him in France. Seabourne is one of their best commandos, but he has been operating in the Balkans and doesn't speak a syllable of French. Nevertheless, he is briefed and sent across the Channel to rendezvous with a small group of French Resistance fighters. These intrepid French Resistance fighters are led by a ruthless young woman, Ellie (Audrey L'Ebrellec of "Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot"),who has no qualms about shooting Germans dead at point blank range. Indeed, we see her stand over the supine body of an unarmed German soldier and shoot him dead without batting an eyelash. Since "We Go in at Dawn" is a low-budget feature film, the filmmakers refrain from showing how our hero is transported from London to France. Suffice it to say, Seabourne is tromping through the French countryside when he links up with Ellie and her small band of guerrillas. No sooner has Seabourne sneaked into the German compound at a French chateau than he learns to his chagrin that his objective, Victor Laurence (Christos Lawton of "Hugo"),doesn't want to risk his life again to escape. Laurence argues that the German were learn too late about his identity and the D-Day landings that the Allies have scheduled will have taken place. Laurence ponders the problem that Gestapo officer Richter (television actor Guy Faulkner) may recognize him. At first, the villainous Gestapo officer doesn't remember Laurence, but it doesn't take him long to search his memory. What "We Go in at Dawn" lacks in budget, Mole struggles to compensate for his shortcomings by emphasizing suspense, suspense, and more suspense. Ellie and Seabourne clash throughout the action, particularly after they kill two Germans prowling the woods and some of her Resistance fighters are captured. Eventually, Seabourne convinces Laurence that he has no choice but to escape and return to England. Seabourne rallies the prisoners-of-war serving time along with Laurence in the chateau, and Ellie relies on a bag of explosives to distract the Germans long enough for our heroes to make their getaway. Mole conjures up several moments of suspense as our heroes risk their lives against a superior force. You don't often see in movies like this the practice of battlefield salvage. Meaning, an unarmed soldier picks up the firearms cradled in the arms of dead enemy soldiers and use them against them. The biggest problem with "We Go in at Dawn" is credibility. The Allies have it far too easy and the Germans are a day late and a dollar short in every encounter against our heroes. Clocking in a minimal 85 minutes. "We Go in at Dawn" ranks as the kind of World War II movie that only die-hard movie warriors will find tolerable in the best of the conditions.

All three introductory statements at the start are historically wrong. Sets the tone for this utterly wretched effort. Weapons magically appear, disappear, and reappear. Shoes are on, off, on without human intervention. The Germans simply stand about to be shot, stabbed, or done away with. POWs wear civilian clothes but aren't shot as spies. British agent is sent to France who can't speak French! Weapons that shoot sound like air pistols.

Unimaginably BAD. Even with social distancing not worth the time.