L'ora del grande attacco

"Appointment in London" is an unusually-atmospheric, stylish and very-consistently-interesting late British WWII film. The subject is the pilots of British Bomber Command and the stresses they encounter in battles as the fly Lancasters in night missions over the European mainland. Specifically, the film features as its central character a dedicated pilot, played elegantly by Dirk Bogarde. He has completed 89 missions and survived, but very much wants his 90th. Due to fatigue and concerns for his well being, echelon grounds him. he is angry and frustrated, but during his time on the ground, he reconnects to life and wins lovely Dinah Sheridan, who acts very strongly as the widow of a naval intelligence type, winning her from breezy Willaim Sylvester, a U.S. pilot. The added tension in the film comes from Bogarde's desire to complete his third tour with one final mission, and the fact that everything about it sets up to be a "jinxed" mission from the start. I will not give away the breath-taking and vivid climax, but apart from some leisurely spots here and there, I will claim that director Philip Leacock has produced one of the best of all war films in "Appointment in London" The script was credited to Robert Westerby and John Woolridge, with cinematography by Stephen Dade and art direction by Donald M. Ashton. John Woolridge also wrote the fine original score, and costumes were contributed by Sheila Graham. In appearance, the film is very strongly made, and attractively photographed. The aerial sequences are very good and the recreated picture of wartime London is a big selling point for this hard-to-find film. Bogarde and Sheridan are extraordinarily touching and intelligent; I cannot recommend this film too highly as drama, as a war movie or as a cinematic "sleeper", one which in lesser hands would not have been as absorbing as it was made to be.

This is one of my favourite WW2 films and yet I only discovered it in the last few years.

The script is well written, the acting particularly by Dirk Bogarde and Dinah Sheriden is excellent and believable. The footage of night bombing raids and the master bomber techniques it shows is by far the best of any film covering this subject.

The film accurately portrays the life of a bomber squadron on "maximum effort". The pilot who survived because he went on leave before a high casualty raid. The fatigue and stress of being up night after night either flying or in the "Ops" room. The Wing Commander's sheer bloodymindedness and a sense of having to finish the tour is set against the knowledge of those around him that statistically his number should have come up several times already.

This is truly excellent film. It doesn't surprise me that it has escaped the list of great war films because of its slightly stodgy title but it's up there with some of the best.

I am surprised I haven't run across this one before discovering it recently on-line. What most of the other reviews have said is true. The bombing sequence at the end of the movie has a documentary quality to it readily evoking MEMPHIS BELLE -- not the disappointing 1990 movie, but the 1944, William-Wyler-directed wartime documentary released by the United States Army Air Forces during the war itself. It is also a highly detailed treatment that illuminates the RAF's night-time area bombing tactics far beyond else ever dramatized. By the same token, the entire rest of the film tends to be a straightforward representation of what it was like for participants in that phase of the war, remarkable as a movie for its minimization of histrionics. It deserves at least a bare minimum of a 7 on IMDb.

This is probably the most realistic drama filmed about Bomber Command late in WWII. The technical details are superb.. the right aircraft in the right locations with the correct props and background.

The acting really is first class and if it seems a little stilted then that's how it was then... if you don't believe me watch "Target for Tonight" which covered a Wellington Bomber mission early in the war and used real RAF crews .

There are no over the top heroics, but the mood is just right, with a constant tension even in moments of relaxation... the war had become a relentless exercise in mechanised killing with operational crews knowing that the chances of them living to complete a full tour of 30 operations was one in four at best, but they just got on with it. far better than "The Dam Busters".

This film was also released as APPOINTMENT IN London. Dirk Bogarde is the stalwart star of this wartime drama centered around the lives of the men of a bomber squadron based at Lincoln. A great deal of original aerial footage is edited into the film throughout, culminating in a huge bombing raid over Germany in the latter part of the film, which shows a genuine squadron flying in formation at night, and features the most astonishing real footage of the roaring inferno produced by such a bombing raid. There are also some shots of London in 1952 showing that there was still almost no traffic. Bogarde plays Wing Commander Mason, who at the beginning of the film has flown 87 sorties over Germany and is being urged on all sides to call it quits, but he is determined to go on until he completes 90 missions, because 'I have set my mind on it'. However, he is getting over-tired and everyone worries that he will make mistakes or simply not make it. My wife likes Bogarde a great deal. She used to be taken by her mother to tea with him and his mother in Denham Village when she was a child, when she became entranced by him and his peculiar charm. His mother was apparently rather butch. I only met him and chatted with him on one occasion, at Shepperton. He was certainly a major figure in the history of British cinema. He could be rather waspish, and was no heterosexual. One old friend of ours unexpectedly turned up on the credits of this film, Cecil Ford. He was credited as Assistant Director. I checked IMDb, and he had already been an assistant director for five years by this time. The next year he moved up to Production Manager. Dinah Sheridan plays the love interest in this film. Although everyone thought she was an English rose, Sheridan was really half Russian and half German. She did very well in the part, showing great restraint as 'a widow since Dunkirk' and not falling for the first airman she sees. Everyone in the film is very restrained indeed, and all the upper lips are stiff in the Old Style. This is seriously traditional British fare. Bryan Forbes does very well as an airman who doesn't make it. His wife is played by the interesting actress Anne Leon, who died long ago and made few films. She was very effective, but as she was no glamour gal, it seems she was not offered many parts. It is always a pity when people of talent are not properly recognised. In terms of names we might recognise today, Nigel Stock is uncredited as a co-pilot, not that you would notice. And that is about it. The film was ably directed by Philip Leacock, who went on to make another film with Dirk Bogarde three years later, THE Spanish GARDENER, and later in life was primarily a director of many popular television series. This film is probably about as realistic as you can get, as a portrait of Bomber Command in operation during the War. But it never sacrifices fiction for fact, and maintains strong story lines and dramatic narrative throughout, with all the accuracy serving to make it more moving and authentic.