Appointment with Venus [Island Rescue] *** (1951, David Niven, Glynis Johns, Patric Doonan) – Classic Movie Review 13,383

Appointment with Venus [Island Rescue] 1951, Glynis Johns).

Holy cow! Ralph Thomas’s 1951 British wartime  drama film Appointment with Venus [Island Rescue] is closely based on the 1951 fact-based novel by Jerrard Tickell, and stars David Niven and Glynis Johns.

Director Ralph Thomas’s 1951 British war drama film Appointment with Venus [Island Rescue] is closely based on the 1951 fact-based novel by Jerrard Tickell, and stars David Niven, Glynis Johns, Patric Doonan, George Coulouris, Barry Jones, Kenneth More, Noel Purcell, Bernard Lee, Jeremy Spenser, Anton Diffring, Richard Wattis, and David Horne.

Appointment with Venus [Island Rescue] is an odd, amiable little comedy adventure about Major Valentine Morland (David Niven), Sergeant Forbes (Patric Doonan) and ATS woman Volunteer Nicola Fallaize (Glynis Johns) sent from England in a submarine to lead the World War Two wartime rescue of Venus, a valuable prize pedigree pregnant Guernsey cow, from the fictional Nazi-invaded Channel Island of Amorel.

With the cream of the era’s genial British acting talent poured onto the pudding, it is amusingly pleasant, pacy and unusual, if hardly gold top comedy material. The spirited reliable stars and character actors milk the jolly if sometimes rather lukewarm, smug and over-cosy material for all it is worth and maybe a bit more.

Appointment with Venus was released in the US as Island Rescue.

It is written by the novelist Nicholas Phipps and produced by Betty E. Box.

Armorel is almost certainly a fictionalised version of the island of Sark, the main location when making the film.

The story is based on the real evacuation of Alderney cattle from the Channel Islands in World War Two, a story told to Tickell after WW2 by an army officer who was involved.

Ralph Thomas recalled: ‘It was a difficult picture but it was fun.’ They had trouble because the island of Sark did not allow motorised traffic and the production was permitted a single Land Rover and trailer to transport all their equipment. Ralph Thomas said he used 12 plain-coloured cows to play the lead cow, painting them with a patch on the side and the colours would run every time it rained.

What is a cow’s opinion? It’s a moo point!

The cast

The cast are David Niven, Glynis Johns, Patric Doonan, George Coulouris, Barry Jones, Kenneth More, Noel Purcell, Bernard Lee, Jeremy Spenser, Anton Diffring, Richard Wattis, David Horne, Geoffrey Sumner, Peter Butterworth, Martin Boddey, John Horsley, George Benson, Richard Marner, Michael Ward, Marianne Stone, Noel Johnson, Philip Stainton, Harold Goodwin, Basil Dignam, Charles Lamb, Terence Longden, Johnnie Schofield, Fritz Krenn, Henrik Jacobsen, Michael Ritterman, Olwen Brookes, Derek Blomfield, Helen Goss, Michael Evans, Oscar Nation, and Jeanne Pali.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,383

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