Watch Appointment in London For Free

Sick Product of a Sick System

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Some of the best war films have been movies about the Allied bombing campaign of WWII. "Command Decision", "12 O'Clock High" and "Raiders in the Sky" are all excellent films--though the latter is set at a British bomber base whereas the first two are about American bases. While I wouldn't quite put this film in the same level as the other two in quality, it is awfully close and well worth your time.The film centers around Wing Commander Mason (Dirk Bogarde). He's a very good pilot. However, his 87 missions is wearing on him and he's long overdue to be retired from the front line. Oddly, instead of being happy about this, Mason insists on being able to at least reach 90...and then he'll quit. The film is a nice portrait of Lancaster pilots and crew and because it was made not too long after the war, the filmmakers were able to use three airworthy bombers--which added to the realism.So why do I think this one isn't quite up to the level of the American films? Well, mostly because Mason just seems to take the whole thing in stride (apart from insomnia) and he seems amazingly well adjusted...taking away from the tension that DID come because the other two films focused so strongly on the emotional toll. Still, a nice tribute to these brave men and well worth your time.

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.

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.

***SPOILERS*** Somewhat talky but very good WWII movie set on an English airfield of RAF Lancaster Bombers in the late summer of 1943. Grounded Wing-Commander Tim Mason, Dirk Bogarde, who has flown 89 bombing missions over German occupied Europe seems to have developed a dislike of his airmen under his command who have anything to do with their loved one's back home. Mason feels that their, the bomber pilots, emotions will get in the way of their ability in flying their dangerous bombing missions over Europe. One of those airmen pilot Pete Greeno,Bryan Forbes,who was just recommended for the DFC, Distinguish flying Cross, for bravery is called into his office and is chewed out by Mason for calling his girl, really his wife, after every mission to tell her in code that he was all right. Greeno who had an appointment in London to receive his DFC at Buckingham Palace never made it there, on his next mission his plane was lost over the English Channel after a bomb run over the skies of Germany. Mason is deeply hurt by what happened to Greeno and his crew since he feels that he jinxed him by giving him the berating that he did before his last flight and that may have taken the edge, by not being allowed to call his girl, off his flying skills.Meeting his wife Pam Greeno, Anne Leon, later to give his sympathy and condolences Mason is even more hurt to find out that Mrs. Greeno knew all about his attitude towards her as well as all the other wives and girlfriends of his air crews and hated him for it. Mason was also a bit hypocritical since he was itching to go on a bombing mission and has a girlfriend himself back in England Eve Canyon, Dinah Sheridan, a officer in Naval intelligence and also a war widow of a navy man who was lost at Dunkirk.Troubled and almost suicidal on what he did to the Greeno's Mason takes his 90th mission , against orders, on a night-time raid over German controlled Holland and guides his Lancaster Squadron over the target where they dropped their bomb payload successfully and then returned to the safety of the British Isles due to Mason's courage under fire. Receiving an award for bravery instead of a court-martial Mason together with bomber pilot and friend of the late Pete Greeno Bill Brown,Bill Kerr, and the widowed Pam Greeno are seen at the end off the movie on a taxi going to Buckingham Palace for their appointment in London. Even more important, to Mason, the late Pet Greeno's wife Pam has changed her mind about him and due to his brave actions in the air over Holland knows that he was very mournful and sorry for what he did to her husband by browbeating him about her and, what seems like to me, forgave Wing-Commander Mason for it.The movie "Appointment in London" not only shows the courage under fire of the brave men and women of the RAF in WWII but also the dedication and courage of their friends families and loved ones that they left behind who may have never seen them come back.