Captain Mainwaring often a sympathetic subtext to his own personal neuroses; it is apparent several times that he devotes his energies to his Home Guard unit for a sense of comradeship and purpose lacking in other parts of his life, such as his career and marriage. On one occasion when his men spurned a parade to play darts against the ARP he expressed bewilderment, saying coming to the platoon is "the highlight of my day". It is frequently implied that he is trapped in a loveless and unhappy marriage to Elizabeth, his unseen wife, who is domineering, neurotic and withholding of affection.
Daniel Mainwaring work bearing his real name were the 1954 shot-on-location crime thriller "The Phenix City Story" (1954) and the original version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). As director Joseph Losey, whose "The Lawless" was adapted by Mainwaring from the writer's own short story (publication undetermined), "The Voice of Stephen Wilder", noted:This is one of the things that makes me very close to Dan Mainwaring—his experience of Americana, the nostalgia of the good things about small towns. I remember the smell of burning leaves at night in the autumn too. And I remember the smell of Christmas, the sparkle in