Command Decision (1948)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

William R. Laidlaw (screenplay) and
George Froeschel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

February 1949 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

Heroes, cowards, fighters, braggarts, liars...and what goes on in their hearts!

Plot:

Army generals struggle with the decision to prioritize bombing the German factories producing new jet fighters over the extremely high casualties the mission will cost.

Plot Keywords:

Jet | Germany | Factory | Secrecy | Bomber

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Brigadier General K.C. 'Casey' Dennis
Walter Pidgeon	...	Major General Roland Goodlow Kane
Van Johnson	...	Technical Sergeant Immanuel T. Evans
Brian Donlevy	...	Brigadier General Clifton I. Garnet
Charles Bickford	...	Elmer Brockhurst
John Hodiak	...	Colonel Edward Rayton Martin
Edward Arnold	...	Congressman Arthur Malcolm
Marshall Thompson	...	Captain George Washington Bellpepper Lee
Richard Quine	...	Major George Rockton
Cameron Mitchell	...	Lieutenant Ansel Goldberg
Clinton Sundberg	...	Major Homer V. Prescott
Ray Collins	...	Major Desmond Lansing
Warner Anderson	...	Colonel Earnest Haley
John McIntire	...	Major Belding Davis
Moroni Olsen	...	Congressman Stone

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #13274) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

March Air Force Base, Riverside, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The "Lantze-Wolf 1" referred to in the movie is actually a Messerschmitt ME-262 "Schwalbe" turbojet fighter, introduced in combat in 1944.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Casey is wondering about the weather for the third straight day of maximum effort, he tells his staff to keep him informed with weather updates. But when he does so, his lips don't move.

Quotes:

James Carwood: What's the answer, Brockie, all guts and no brain?
Elmer Brockhurst: No. That's putting it too simply. Dennis is one of those boys whose brain is fascinated by guts. He loves this lousy war.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Clark Gable: Tall, Dark and Handsome (1996)

One of the very best WWII films

There must be at least one whole generation of viewers who don't even know this film exists! Yet it remains one of the very best WWII films ever made. I first saw as a child, when it was quite new, and have seen it several times since. It has never lost its hold and that, I suppose, principally because of Clark Gable's superb performance (although the other parts are all very strongly done). It really must be one of his finest screen roles and that alone, one might think, would ensure that it is never long absent from television screens. Sadly it has been shown in Britain but once that I know of, and is not available here on a PAL-system video, although "Twelve O'Clock High" is available and often screened. In many ways the two films complement each other, each not wholly to be appreciated without seeing the other. "Twelve O'Clock High" has an almost exclusively military focus while "Command Decision" brings in the effect of political factors on military decisions. The latter film, however, has an edge: Gable on top form and that was always something very special.