Landfall (1949 film)
Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on the 1940 novel "", written by Nevil Shute. 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 criticized 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. Reception. The "Radio Times" gave the film two out of five stars, calling it a "dainty item from a vanished era of British war movies." "TV Guide" rated the film  similarly, concluding that "[a]dequate performances are marred by a script burdened with some soap opera dramatics."