How sad is this?

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

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.

I had seen this film when I was in school where it was shown as part of educational films screened by one of my schoolmasters who had himself served in the Royal Indian Air Force in Burma.Today I own a copy on DVD. The exploits of people in Bomber Command is brought out with extreme accuracy to the screen by creating an atmosphere that is taut and realistic. Dirk Bogarde gives one of his best performances as the Wing Commander who is definitely cracking under the stress of command but does not want to accept it. The scenes where he gives Bryan Forbes a dressing down will certainly strike a chord where his sense of responsibility to the team is exposed. The accuracy of operations of RAF Bombers during night sorties right from the point of take off, to the tension of the ground staff till their return is brilliantly photographed. There are no clichés or extended heroics quite common in similar films but dark realism of survival during the war with the atmosphere of the airfields and aircrew intact. Being the son of an Air Force officer who did some war service in India the realism is striking. I would certainly recommend it to the younger viewers who need to study such situations.

this is one of them films that really shows what the Bomber command boys were really at. we all get taught about the Battle of Britain and stuffy dowding, we rarely hear about how hard it was for those working for Bomber Harris, aircrews flying long jobs, the Squadron & wing commanders being pushed to the brink of destruction and beyond. but we also see the human side, WC mason is near the end of his tour of 90 jobs and is trying to keep his boys focused on the job both on the ground crews and in the air crews ,keeping their minds on the flying & Maintenance and not the women, which he thinks after one fatality and meeting the widow makes him realise he may be wrong, still he completes his tour and keeps his appointment. made in 1954 there were plenty of Lanc's still flying, today in 2011 there are 2 left in world flying and not many of the crews are left neither, My late neighbour was a Lanc Pilot, i didn't know till after he had died he never spoke of it, My grandfather was a hero in WW2 and so this neighbour..if anything when ever this movie comes on MAKE SURE THE KIDS WATCH IT.. we always remember the few of fighter command, this films makes sure we remember the Many....and is a testament to flyers like Guy Gibson and his many many comrades who died for us..today...WATCH THIS MOVIE

"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.