Appointment in London (1953)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Philip Leacock

Writers:

John Wooldridge (screenplay) and
Robert Westerby (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1953 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England...

Plot Keywords:

Airforce | WWII

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Wing-Commander Tim Mason
Ian Hunter	...	Group Captain Logan
Dinah Sheridan	...	Eve Canyon
Bryan Forbes	...	Pilot Officer Peter Greeno (The Brat)
Walter Fitzgerald	...	Dr. Mulvaney, Group Medical Officer
Bill Kerr	...	Flight Lieutenant Bill Brown
William Sylvester	...	Major Mac Baker, U.S. Observer
Anne Leon	...	Mrs. Pamela Greeno
Charles Victor	...	Dobbie - Innkeeper
Richard Wattis	...	Pascal - Signals Officer
Carl Jaffe	...	German General
Sam Kydd	...	Ackroyd - the Brat's Mechanic
Terence Longdon	...	Dr. Buchanan
Michael Ripper	...	Bomb Aimer (Brown's Ship)
Campbell Singer	...	Flight Sergeant (Chief of Ground Crews)

Also Known As:

Raiders in the Sky (USA)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

British Lion Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Mayflower Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Nigel Stock was cast in major featured role but dropped out before filming.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Wing Commander Mason (Dirk Bogarde) removes Pilot Officer Greeno's name from the crew list on the blackboard, he tells the Adjutant that "One one eight squadron is standing down". In fact the squadron's number in the film is one eight eight.

Tight script, great performances, amazing flying sequences

This is an unusual film. As others have commented it is well made, tautly scripted and has very good central performances. But that isn't what singles it out.

It's commonly thought that night time area bombing by the RAF was a hit or miss affair, quite different from daylight precision bombing done by the USAAF. Whilst no one can argue that targets were easier to see during daylight hours, both the RAF and the Luftwaffe developed highly accurate methods of hitting their targets at night. In the fateful Dresden raid in February 1945, almost 95% of the RAF bombload fell within one mile of the markers placed with 50 metre accuracy by the Mosquito target illuminator aircraft. The following day, a quarter of the American daylight force sent to follow up bombed Prague, having mistaken one bend in the River Elbe for another.

This film depicts, at length, the method of target marking the flight path using coloured airburst flares, eliminating 'creepback' by approaching the target along different vectors, air and ground marking the target and using a 'Master Bomber' to control the incoming streams and give bomb aimers feedback on accuracy.

No medal was struck for Bomber Command and many of the crew themselves felt their contribution was best forgotten, so this film is one of the few accurate testaments to their courage.