Appointment with Venus

APPOINTMNET WITH VENUS is a light-hearted wartime comedy with an unusual premise: British officers going out of their way to rescue a cow from the Isle of Sark during the German occupation in WW2. Weirdly, this turns out to be a true story, and admittedly it is rather slight, almost a gimmick. What this film does benefit from are some assured performances from a typically like David Niven, alongside a wealth of character talent (Noel Purcell, et all) who bring the supporting roles to life. George Coulouris impresses as a kindly Nazi officer, and the whole thing has a light and breezy feel, even if it is a little forgettable.

Who in their right minds would mount a commando raid to rescue a cow ?Only the Brits. Venus was in fact a Gurnsey Cow. A champion milk producer.And the envy of Hitler, who wanted to breed her capabilities into the Teutonic herds that he had proclaimed to be the world's best.Thus for reasons of morale the Brits mounted a commando operation to snatch Venus right from under the noses of the German occupiers of her island home. A wonderful movie Starring David Niven and Glynis Johns,recreated this exciting story of the successful operation. I was lucky enough to have seen the movie in a theatre when it first came out,at the tender age of ten .I loved it then and I loved it on late night TV 35 years later. I wish it would play again. I'd make a point of staying up to tape it. A splendid paean of praise for the indomitable Human Spirit. If it comes your way take time to enjoy.

The British garrison has been evacuated from the Channel Islands and soon after the Germans occupy the islands. The British send a very small expedition force to attempt to transport back to Britain a prize Guernsey cow named Venus. The Nazi commandant of the island recognizes the breeding value of this cow makes plans to have her shipped to Germany. The key members of the rescue team are Glynis Johns and David Niven - two actors who never disappoint. The commandant is a sympathetic character who treats the islanders with great respect. It's all rather bucolic and pleasant with just one nasty Nazi soldier who provides the tension to the story. It's a charming and engaging movie set in a fascinating locale and a reminder of a perhaps little remembered fact of this German occupation. The print I saw of this was great and I'll be watching this movie again.

This is a bit of a long shot seeing as the original review was posted back in 2002, but I am re-publishing the original book by Jerrard Tickell that this film is based on, and would love to know more about Colonel "Duke" Wright - as mentioned in Horn-5's original review here.

It would be fantastic to know where you found this information, and how I can find out more about the conversation the author had with the Colonel.

Horn-5 - if you're still out there, please feel free to contact me at info at manderleypress dot come if you can help! Thanks so much in advance.

"Appointment with Venus" author Jerrard Tickell, who also wrote "Odette", wrote that the germ of the idea for his novel, and delightful movie, came ten years or more in the past when he had a conversation with a Colonel "Duke" Wright in the British War Office. In 1940, Wright was O.C. at Guernsey and, with the fall of France, had the dangerous task of evacuating the garrison from the Channel Islands. After a nightmare journey, the exhausted, unshaven but triumphant Wright reported to the War Office at three in the morning that not a man had been lost. The junior officer who greeted him remarked what a pity it was that the Colonel had failed to bring any pedigreed cows with him. And added, "I suppose you couldn't go back and collect some." Tickell wrote that Colonel Wright's reply was as pungent as it was unprintable.