Appointment with Venus (film)

Infobox Film
name = Appointment with Venus


image_size =
caption =
director = Ralph Thomas
producer = Betty Box
writer = Nicholas Phipps
Jerrard Tickell
narrator =
starring = David Niven
Glynis Johns
George Coulouris
music = Benjamin Frankel
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = October 8 1951
runtime = 90 minutes
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0043293

"Appointment with Venus" is a 1951 film adaptation of the Jerrard Tickell novel of the same name. It was directed by Ralph Thomas, produced by Betty E. Box and its screenplay was written by the novelist and Nicholas Phipps.

In the United States the film was re-titled "Island Rescue".

Plot

In 1940, after the fall of France, the fictitious Channel Island of Amorel is occupied by a small garrison of German troops under the benign command of Hauptmann Weiss (George Coulouris). He finds that the hereditary ruler, the Suzerain, is away in the army, leaving the Provost in charge.

Back in London, the Ministry of Agriculture realise that during the evacuation of the island, Venus, a prize pedigree cow, has been left behind. They petition the War Office to do something urgently, and Major Moreland (David Niven), is assigned the task of rescuing Venus. When he realises that the Suzerain's sister, Nicola Falaise (Glynis Johns) is in Wales, serving as an army cook, she is quickly posted to the War Office and the two, with a sergeant and a naval officer, are landed on the island.

They contact the Provost and discover that the Hauptmann, a cattle breeder in civilian life, is about to the have the cow shipped to Germany. In a race against the Germans discovering their presence, they spirit the cow onto a beach and via a special craft, onto a motorboat which takes them to England.

The story is based on a real incident told to Tickell ten years after the war by an army officer who was involved in a similar event.

The fictitious island of Amorel may be based on Sark, one of the locations where the film was shot. Sark, inhabited by 500 people, has also got a feudal ruler, the Seigneur, as depicted in the play The Dame of Sark. As all the Channel Islands, it was occupied by German troops 1940-1945, two unsuccessful British commando raids took place here in 1942/43.

Cast

*David Niven as Major Valentine Moreland
*Glynis Johns as Nicola Falaise
*George Coulouris as Captain Weiss
*Barry Jones as the Provost
*Kenneth More as Lionel Fallaise, Nicola's cousin
*Noel Purcell as Trawler Langley
*Bernard Lee as Brigadier
*Jeremy Spenser as Georges
*Patric Doonan as Sergeant Forbes
*Martin Boddey as Sergeant Vogel
*John Horsley as Naval Officer Kent

External links

*imdb title|id=0043293|title=Appointment with Venus