Appointment in London screen grabs

I try really hard to keep the gushing here to a minimum, and to keep the blog more proper than "omg I love him!!" fangirly. But, my goodness, do you see these screen shots?! It's hard to keep your composure whilst looking at them, let alone write a post that's any more formal than "drooling......"

I took a LOT of shots, and these 12 are my favorite. You can see the rest here.

Appointment in London (1952)

Sorry for the obnoxious gif, but I had to make one when I saw this scene. It's just so perfect!

I was a very bad Dirk Bogarde fan when I watched this film. I was quite tired and I only vaguely understood the plot (not that it was that complicated, I was just that tired) but from what I understand, this is how it went -- Dirk Bogarde plays a flight officer who has already flown more missions than most people do in their entire careers. He's working towards 90 bombing missions, even if everyone thinks that it's pushing his luck to even do 88 or 89.

I have a very hard time watching war movies.. I can't help myself! All of the talk about missions and bombing raids and radar went flying through my left ear and soaring out the right. Like most post-war British war films, however, it did have several really heartfelt, saddening scenes that emphasized what war does to the women on the homefront. One pilot was sending coded messages to his wife so that Dirk Bogarde (who didn't approve of his officers having their minds on their women, so preferred that they either didn't have women at home or didn't communicate with them) wouldn't find him out. Bogarde's love interest in the film, played by Dinah Sheridan, is a war widow who is still referred to throughout the movie as "Mrs." Those moments were poignant and deeply sad.

It puzzles me why Dirk Bogarde was cast in so many war films at the peak of his popularity with young girls. Why screaming bobbysoxers would be interested in violent movies seemingly aimed at male audiences eludes me, but I guess I'm living proof that if he was in it, the adoring fans would watch it.

new scans!

A gigantic "thank you" to my good friend Roe from the Dirk Bogarde facebook group for sending me some wonderful photos in the mail last week! First there's this fantastic photo above from the National Gallery in London. I usually prefer his younger photos but this one is just so captivating! I also love the mixed patterns: the checkered pants, striped shirt and what appears to be an insect-print tie?!

I also received this batch of amazing stills from Hot Enough for June! They really capture the feel of the movie, how it is delightfully fun and romantic, but still exceptionally suspenseful! You can see larger versions of all of these photos by clicking the thumbnails in the photo section of my website, here! Thank you Roe!! :)

TCM programming alert!

The Angel Wore Red will be playing on TCM at 12:30AM EST on November 19th. TCM's site describes the plot as follows, "A priest and a prostitute fall in love during the Spanish Civil War." It's a bit more complicated than that, and, to be honest, not my favorite Dirk Bogarde film, but definitely good and worth giving a watch! :)

Dirk Bogarde Home Videos

There's a documentary on Dirk Bogarde called "The Private Dirk Bogarde" in which they play a good deal of clips from his own home videos. But they're interspersed throughout the 2+ hour long movie, and usually used as background for someone talking over them. So I thought it would be neat to compile all of the home video clips without the documentary audio! There ended up being almost 30 minutes worth of footage, so I divided the clips up into three separate youtube uploads. The accompanying music is Liszt's Consolation No. 2 in E Major performed by Vladimir Horowitz. If you're interested in viewing the entire documentary, it's available on youtube here.

cute little clip

I was perusing the Dirk Bogarde documentary "The Private Dirk Bogarde" tonight, looking for clips from home videos when I came across this one that I had to single out & share. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever?! I love that they documented so much of their life on film.. I'd complain that not enough segments are available, but then I realize how lucky we are to even have these!

New tribute video!

This one is a little more crazy than my last one, but I had so much fun making it, and I think it's really fun to watch too! I tried not to include any of the same clips I did in my first video, but a few snuck in because they fit so well.. only 3 or 4 at the most, though :)

Clips in the video are from: Song Without End, By Myself, Hot Enough for June, Hunted, Sebastian, Despair, The Singer Not the Song, Darling, Archival footage from dirkbogarde.co.uk, Night Porter, The Mind Benders, The Blue Lamp, Modesty Blaise, The Wind Cannot Read, The High Bright Sun, The Servant, Accident, Doctor in Distress, King and Country, Providence and Death in Venice.

The song is Ooh La La by Goldfrapp.

New photos

A huge thank you to Tom from Motion Picture Gems for this amazing "Desperate Moment" still. I've never even seen this picture before, isn't it great?!


And Kendra from Days in Mayfair and Viv & Larry took this snapshot of a wonderful Dirk Bogarde photo on display at the National Portrait Gallery in England!

You can see larger versions of the first 2 photos here in the photographs section. Just click to view the scans full-size.