Appointment with Venus
Appointment with Venus
| 08 October 1951 (USA)
Appointment with Venus Trailers

At the outbreak of WWII the British realise they can't prevent the invasion of the Channel Islands. However, someone realises that a prize cow is on the islands and the Nazis mustn't get hold of her. This is the intrepid story of the cow-napping from under the noses of the Nazis.

Reviews
YouHeart

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

... View More
Fairaher

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

... View More
Brennan Camacho

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

... View More
Curt

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

... View More
Paularoc

The British garrison has been evacuated from the Channel Islands and soon after the Germans occupy the islands. The British send a very small expedition force to attempt to transport back to Britain a prize Guernsey cow named Venus. The Nazi commandant of the island recognizes the breeding value of this cow makes plans to have her shipped to Germany. The key members of the rescue team are Glynis Johns and David Niven - two actors who never disappoint. The commandant is a sympathetic character who treats the islanders with great respect. It's all rather bucolic and pleasant with just one nasty Nazi soldier who provides the tension to the story. It's a charming and engaging movie set in a fascinating locale and a reminder of a perhaps little remembered fact of this German occupation. The print I saw of this was great and I'll be watching this movie again.

... View More
andy-782

This is quite a nice film but it could have been a lot better. The plot is mucked about too often for no apparent reason and Glynis Johns just isn't right as the Nicola. David Niven is believable as Major Valentine but it's not his best performance by a long way and Noel Purcell must have been cast just for his beard. He's supposed to be from the island but he plays the part very Dublin Irish. Patric Doonan is absolutely spot on as Forbes though giving one of his best performances and Martin Boddey is a wonderfully brutal Vogel. Kenneth More is good as the pacifist Lionel but (Spoiler) at the end of the film he gets on the boat and sails to England with the others which is totally out of character and, for me, ruins the end of the movie. In the book he specifically says that he can't go to England because the Germans will want to take retribution and he stays behind to take the blame so the island will be spared and then Captain Weiss, who is quite a sympathetic character, shoots him to save him falling into the hands of the torturers from the Gestapo.

... View More
errbusa

Who in their right minds would mount a commando raid to rescue a cow ?Only the Brits. Venus was in fact a Gurnsey Cow. A champion milk producer.And the envy of Hitler, who wanted to breed her capabilities into the Teutonic herds that he had proclaimed to be the world's best.Thus for reasons of morale the Brits mounted a commando operation to snatch Venus right from under the noses of the German occupiers of her island home. A wonderful movie Starring David Niven and Glynis Johns,recreated this exciting story of the successful operation. I was lucky enough to have seen the movie in a theatre when it first came out,at the tender age of ten .I loved it then and I loved it on late night TV 35 years later. I wish it would play again. I'd make a point of staying up to tape it. A splendid paean of praise for the indomitable Human Spirit. If it comes your way take time to enjoy.

... View More
Leslie Howard Adams

"Appointment with Venus" author Jerrard Tickell, who also wrote "Odette", wrote that the germ of the idea for his novel, and delightful movie, came ten years or more in the past when he had a conversation with a Colonel "Duke" Wright in the British War Office. In 1940, Wright was O.C. at Guernsey and, with the fall of France, had the dangerous task of evacuating the garrison from the Channel Islands. After a nightmare journey, the exhausted, unshaven but triumphant Wright reported to the War Office at three in the morning that not a man had been lost. The junior officer who greeted him remarked what a pity it was that the Colonel had failed to bring any pedigreed cows with him. And added, "I suppose you couldn't go back and collect some." Tickell wrote that Colonel Wright's reply was as pungent as it was unprintable.

... View More