Above and Beyond (1952)

Story of Col. Paul Tibbetts, the man who piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War 2.

Directors:

Melvin Frank, Norman Panama

Writers:

Beirne Lay Jr. (story), Melvin Frank,

Stars:

Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, James Whitmore

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Taylor	...	Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets 509th Composite Group CO (Pilot of Enola Gay)
Eleanor Parker	...	Lucey Tibbets
James Whitmore	...	Maj. William 'Bill' M. Uanna - Security Officer, Operation Silverplate
Larry Keating	...	Maj. Gen. Vernon C. Brent
Larry Gates	...	Capt. William 'Deak' Parsons, USN
Marilyn Erskine	...	Marge Bratton
Stephen Dunne	...	Maj. Harry Bratton, Co-Pilot B-29 Tests
Robert Burton	...	Gen. Samuel E. Roberts (Tibbets' CO in Africa)
Hayden Rorke	...	Dr. Ramsey
Lawrence Dobkin	...	Dr. Van Dyke (as Larry Dobkin)
Jack Raine	...	Dr. Fiske
Jonathan Cott	...	Capt. Dutch van Kirk (Navigator, Enola Gay)
Jeff Richards	...	Maj. Thomas Ferebee (Enola Gay Bombardier)
Dick Simmons	...	Capt. Robert A. Lewis (Co-Pilot, Enola Gay)
John McKee	...	Staff Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenbury, Enola Gay Flight Engineer

Storyline

The story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it is capable of doing tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be enormous. He is reluctant to be the person who will end so many lives, but if using it may bring an end to the war, then not doing so may result in even more lives being lost in continued ground assaults as the fighting goes on. At the same time, the intense secrecy surrounding this mission leaves him with no one he can express his thoughts and doubts to, not even his wife. As time goes on, the pressure upon him only increase.

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Plot Keywords:

atomic bomb | enola gay | world war two | nuclear weapons

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Taglines:

The Love Story Behind The Billion Dollar Secret

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eagle on His Cap

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Enola Gay is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

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Goofs

During the scene where Tibbets and his flight crew are taking off for the test flight where the plane has been deliberately overloaded by four tons, after Tibbets gives the command to retract the landing gear, the plane is shown taking off with the landing gear still down.

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Connections

Remade as Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)

User Reviews

Sensitive portrayal of a serious subject, the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.

This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."

Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.

The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.

I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.

This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.