Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

Is the ultimate definitive example of military leadership and (if one can believe an IMDb trivia item) it’s even used by a couple of different branches of the U.S. Armed Forces for training officers. This World War II drama features Gregory Peck – in an Academy Award nominated (Best Actor) role – as General Frank Savage who’s assigned to take over a “daylight precision bombing” unit during the Americans earliest years of participation in the war in Europe. The film which was nominated for Best Picture and was added to the National Film Registry in 1998 won an Oscar for Best Sound and earned Dean Jagger a Best Supporting Actor statuette on his only nomination. It was directed by Henry King (The Song of Bernadette (1943)) and was written by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. (Above and Beyond (1952)); they wrote the novel and its screenplay. The movie opens in London (England) 1949 when Jagger’s character purchases a Robin Hood Toby mug (which was used to indicate to base personnel that a mission was underway) and returns by train to Archbury and then bicycles to the site of the runways and base now overgrown with weeds where the following story took place some seven years earlier:

Colonel Ernie Davenport (Gary Merrill) feels that his 918th Bomb Group is unlucky; at least that’s how he characterizes it to his friend and superior officer General Frank Savage (Peck). Davenport claims his men are overworked being pushed too hard in a dangerous experiment called “daylight precision bombing” which requires daytime and lower than typical bombing runs that exposes the B-17s and their 10-man crews to heavy defensive artillery and Luftwaffe fighters. But Savage and his superior Major General Pat Pritchard (Millard Mitchell) assess that the 918th’s problem is its leadership that Davenport has become too involved with his pilots to adequately lead them to their “maximum effort”. So Savage replaces Davenport who joins Pritchard’s staff and makes an immediate impression on a slacking guard at the gate (Kenneth Tobey uncredited) a too casual Sergeant (Robert Arthur) in the base office and Davenport’s second-in-command Lieutenant Colonel Ben Gately (Hugh Marlowe) who he accuses of cowardice and shirking his responsibilities promptly demoting him to pilot a “Leper Colony” plane to which all the other "incompetents" are assigned.

But Savage’s by-the-book discipline and methods quickly alienates him such that every pilot requests a transfer. Davenport’s adjutant Major Harvey Stovall (Jagger) who’d served in World War I recognizes what the General is trying to do and assists him by delaying the requests for 10 days to give Savage time to “get a win” in hopes of generating some pride and ultimately unity among the men. The General gets his chance by leading a successful mission through inclement weather despite it being recalled – he’d feigned a bad radio – but Savage is perplexed when a hero pilot named Bishop (Bob Patten) that he’d earlier awarded a medal to isn’t immediately able to express the unit pride he’d hoped for. However when the General and Stovall are called to the mat to answer for the delayed transfers Bishop and the others stand up for them. The 918th proceeds to become a top unit all the way through their biggest mission to destroy a German ball-bearings plant deep in enemy territory. The drama is intensified at the end of each mission when base personnel and officers count the returning bombers e.g. to see how many were lost. The air battles and bombing raids in the film feature actual combat footage.

Paul Stewart plays Captain ‘Doc’ Kaiser who’s concerned about the men’s mental as well as physical fitness. John Kellogg plays Savage’s feisty second-in-command Major Cobb. Lee MacGregor plays Lieutenant Zimmerman whose mistake led to Davenport’s dismissal; Sam Edwards plays pilot Birdwell and Roger Anderson plans an interrogation officer.

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