Landfall (1949 film)

Landfall
Landfall
Directed by	Ken Annakin
Written by	Talbot Jennings (screenplay); Gilbert Gunn & Anne Burnaby (adaptation)
Based on	novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by	Victor Skutezky
Starring	Michael Denison; Patricia Plunkett
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper
Edited by	Peter Graham Scott
Music by	Philip Green
Production; company	Associated British Picture Corporation
Distributed by	Associated British-Pathé
Release date	27 October 1949 (UK);
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£141,127 (UK)

Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison.^[3] The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings from an adaptation by Gilbert Gunn and Anne Burnaby of the 1940 novel Landfall: A Channel Story by Nevil Shute.^[4]

Synopsis

Rick, a British Coastal Command pilot in World War II based near Portsmouth, sinks what he believes to be a German submarine, unaware that a British submarine is also in that part of the Channel. When it emerges that the British submarine has been lost with all hands, a Navy enquiry is held and the senior naval officer concludes that Rick mistakenly attacked a British submarine in a friendly-fire incident. While the enquiry finds that the captain of the submarine was principally at fault for poor navigation, Rick is officially criticised for having failed to properly visually identify his target. Although his commanding officer disagrees with the court's finding and encourages Rick to stay with the squadron, Rick requests another posting.

Rick's fiancée Mona, a barmaid, overhears information that might help uncover what really happened to the British submarine. She reports this information to the Navy, who re-open the investigation and find that a German submarine torpedoed the British submarine and took its place, running on the surface until it was sunk by Rick.

In the interim, Rick's new posting is a dangerous flying duty, testing a new type of guided bomb. After his aircraft crashes and he is critically injured, he is met at the hospital by the naval captain who originally ruled against him, and he tells Rick that he has been exonerated in the re-opened enquiry.

Cast

Michael Denison as Rick
Patricia Plunkett as Mona
Kathleen Harrison as Mona's mother
Denis O'Dea as Captain Burnaby
David Tomlinson as Binks
Charles Victor as Mona's father
Joan Dowling as Miriam, the barmaid
A. E. Matthews as air raid warden
Maurice Denham as Wing Commander Hewitt
Margaretta Scott as Mrs. Burnaby
Sebastian Shaw as Wing Commander Dickens
Nora Swinburne as Admiral's wife
Laurence Harvey as Petty Officer Hooper
Paul Carpenter as Petty Officer Morgan
Frederick Leister as Admiral Blackett
Hubert Gregg as Lieutenant Commander Dale
Walter Hudd as Professor Legge
Margaret Barton as Rosemary, Rick's sister
Edith Sharpe as Mrs. Chambers, Rick's mother
Ivan Samson as Commander Rutherford

Production

It was one of two films Ken Annakin made on loan out from Gainsborough Pictures to Associated British, the other being Double Confession (1950). Annakin wrote "Neither had very good scripts, nor exciting casting... except for Peter Lorre" who was in Double Confession.^[5]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Competent but unexciting story of some 1940 adventures in Coastal Command: Air Force (synthetic jollity) and Naval (strong, silent service) backgrounds interspersed with heavily humorous excerpts from the familiar home life of Kathleen Harrison."^[6]

Variety wrote: "It is nothing more than a soap opera replete with cliche and contrived incidents. It unsuccessfully mixes war heroics and romance, with a slight comment on the breakdown of England's social caste system."^[7]

The Radio Times gave the film two out of five stars, calling it a "dainty item from a vanished era of British war movies."^[8]

TV Guide rated the film similarly, concluding that "[a]dequate performances are marred by a script burdened with some soap opera dramatics."^[9]

References

^ "LANDFALL – British Board of Film Classification". www.bbfc.co.uk.
^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p490
^ "Landfall". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "Landfall (1949)". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
^ Annakin, Ken (2001). So you wanna be a director?. Tomahawk Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780953192656.
^ "Landfall". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 16 (181): 199. 1 January 1949 – via ProQuest.
^ "Landfall". Variety. 190 (10): 22. 13 May 1953 – via ProQuest.
^ "Landfall – review – cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online". Radio Times.
^ "Landfall". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018.

External links

Landfall at IMDb

This article related to a British film of the 1940s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about a film on World War II is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "LANDFALL – British Board of Film Classification". www.bbfc.co.uk.

[2] Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p490

[BFIsearch-3] "Landfall". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 October 2024.

[4] "Landfall (1949)". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.

[5] Annakin, Ken (2001). So you wanna be a director?. Tomahawk Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780953192656.

[6] "Landfall". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 16 (181): 199. 1 January 1949 – via ProQuest.

[7] "Landfall". Variety. 190 (10): 22. 13 May 1953 – via ProQuest.

[8] "Landfall – review – cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online". Radio Times.

[9] "Landfall". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018.

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