''Appointment in London'' (known as ''Raiders in the Sky'' in the U.S.) is a 1953 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

set during the Second World War and starring

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as '' Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Org ...

. The film was directed by

Philip Leacock Philip David Charles Leacock (8 October 1917 – 14 July 1990) was an English television and film director and producer. His brother was documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock. Career Born in London, England, Leacock spent his childhood in the C ...

and based on a story by John Wooldridge, who as an RAF bomber pilot flew 108 operational sorties over Europe.Coldstream 2005, p. 181. Wooldridge, who after the war established himself as a successful film composer before his untimely death in a car accident, also wrote the

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

and participated in writing the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

for 'Appointment in London'. ''Appointment in London'' is set in an

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

squadron during 1943 and tells of a wing commander's attempt to finish his third and final tour of 30 operations. A sub-plot involves his relationship with a widowed

Wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonl ...

in whom an American observer attached to his airfield is also interested.

Plot

Wing Commander Tim Mason (

) commands a squadron of

Avro Lancasters The Avro Lancaster is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the S ...

based in England. He is nearing the end of his third tour of operations, meaning that he has flown nearly 90 missions over Germany. Having twice volunteered to continue operational flying, Mason is keen to make it a round 90 "ops", but just as he is nearing the end of his tour he receives orders banning him from further flying. Meanwhile, losses are mounting and several raids are being seen as failures, so that some of the members of his crews, Brown (

Bill Kerr William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian, and vaudevillian. Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second Wor ...

) and "The Brat" Greeno (

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and ...

) among them, are thinking that there must be a "

jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. The word ''"jynx"'' meaning the bird wryneck and sometimes a charm or spell has been in use in English since the seventeen ...

" at work. Soon afterwards, "The Brat" is caught sending unauthorised

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

s off the station. These turn out to be written to his wife, Pam (Anne Leon), rather than anything more sinister; however, Mason reprimands Greeno for the lapse in security. A few days later, Greeno's aircraft fails to return from a raid and Mason agrees to meet Pam, who has asked to see him. With only one more flight to go, he accepts that the decision to ground him was for his own good, and he visits Brown's aircraft as Brown and his crew prepare to take off on a mission. As the crew board the Lancaster the large 4,000 lb "cookie" bomb that is part of the bomber's load, slips from the bomb shackles and injures one of the crew. With no time to obtain a replacement crew member, US observer Mac Baker ( William Sylvester) takes his place. Mason decides to go as well, to reassure the crew's worries about the jinx, and the bomber takes off. During the attack on the target, the Pathfinder plane directing the raid is shot down, causing the remaining bombers to begin bombing inaccurately. Hearing and seeing this, Mason takes the Pathfinder's place on the radio, broadcasting corrections and accurate instructions, and the bombing becomes accurate again. Listening-in to the Pathfinder's broadcast back in Britain, Mason's commanding officer,

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

Logan ( Ian Hunter) hears Mason's voice and realises that he's disobeyed orders and flown on the operation. However, Mason's intervention turns the raid from a probable failure to a success, so on Mason's return Logan greets him at his aircraft. At the end of the mission, Mason, along with Eve Canyon, Brown and Greeno's wife Pam, take a taxi to

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

to receive an award from

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

Main cast

as Wing Commander Tim Mason * Ian Hunter as Group Captain Logan *

Dinah Sheridan Dinah Sheridan (born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg; 17 September 1920 – 25 November 2012) was an English actress with a career spanning seven decades. She was best known for the films '' Genevieve'' (1953) and '' The Railway Children'' (1970); the l ...

as Eve Canyon *

as Pilot Officer Peter Greeno ("The Brat") * Walter Fitzgerald as Dr. Mulvaney, Group Medical Officer *

as Flight Lieutenant Bill Brown * William Sylvester as "Mac" Baker * Anne Leon as Pam Greeno *

Charles Victor Charles Victor (10 February 1896 – 23 December 1965) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles between 1931 and 1965. He was born Charles Victor Harvey. Born in Southport, Lancashire, England, Victor was a fourth ...

as Dobbie, the Innkeeper *

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

as Pascal *

Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop. In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fra ...

as German General *

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British-Irish actor. His best-known roles were in two major British television series of the 1960s, as the smuggler Orlando O'Connor in '' Crane'' and its sequel ''Orlando''. He als ...

as Ackroyd * Terence Longdon as Dr. Buchanan *

Michael Ripper Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor. He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough ...

as Bomb Aimer * Campbell Singer as Flight Sergeant (Chief of Ground Crews) *

Harold Siddons William Harold Henry Siddons (17 September 19224 November 1963)Anthony Forwood as Sandy (Navigation Officer)

Production

''Appointment in London'' was produced by Aubrey Baring and Maxwell Setton and shot at British Lion's

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused ...

and at

RAF Upwood Royal Air Force Upwood or more simply RAF Upwood is a former Royal Air Force station adjacent to the village of Upwood, Cambridgeshire, England, in the United Kingdom. It was a non-flying station which was under the control of the United Sta ...

."Appointment in London."
''Filmed at RAF Upwood.'' Retrieved: 24 March 2012. Three of the Lancaster B VII bombers, serial numbers ''NX673'', ''NX679'' and ''NX782'', used in the film, also appeared in '' The Dam Busters'' two years later. In some ground shots, several of the "Lancasters" in the background are the later

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and I ...

bombers, still in service at the time. The film was made with the co-operation of Bomber Harris. The music was also written by Wooldridge and performed by the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...

under his conduction. Australian actor

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

was originally to play an Australian character, "Bill Brown". When Finch had to withdraw, due to other commitments, he recommended fellow Australian

, who received the part. Kerr also later played a real, celebrated Australian Lancaster pilot, H. B. "Micky" Martin, in ''The Dambusters''. Another Australian,

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer in the 1960s, and included '' The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and '' Rasputin, the Mad Monk'' (1966). In 1965 he d ...

, had a small role.

Reception

Featuring the use of the wartime Avro Lancaster bomber, because of the aerial scenes, ''Appointment in London'' was considered a "realistic, well-done story of RAF Bomber Command in the dark days of 1943." Other contemporary reviews in 1953, focused on the action; ''The Spectator'' noted, "sequences rock the heart with glory the terror of it all" and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' enthused, "The Lancaster bomber raid which climaxes the film is just about the best treatment of this subject I have seen." The fairly staid plot, nonetheless, was also described as a "run-of-the-mill" story. Despite the British interest during the postwar period in films that chronicled the Second World War, the box office was not strong, and Wooldridge considered it a "dud".Coldstream 2005, p. 182.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Coldstream, John. ''Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography.'' London: Phoenix, 2005. . * Evans, Alun. ''Brassey's Guide to War Films''. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. . * Garbett, Mike and Brian Goulding. ''The Lancaster at War''. Toronto: Musson Book Company, 1971. . * Harwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Buff's Guide to Aviation Movies". ''Air Progress Aviation'', Volume 7, No. 1, Spring 1983.

External links

* * * *
''Part for a "Heavy"''
a 1952 ''Flight'' news item {{DEFAULTSORT:Appointment In London 1953 films 1950s English-language films British black-and-white films British war films British aviation films World War II aviation films Films directed by Philip Leacock Films set in London 1953 war films 1950s British films