Above and Beyond (1952)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

Writers:

Beirne Lay Jr. (story)
Melvin Frank (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 January 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

"You're not the man I married. Not any more. You're ambitious...cold...and heartless!"

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Nuclear Weapons | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets 509th Composite Group CO (pilot of Enola Gay)
Eleanor Parker	...	Lucey Tibbets
James Whitmore	...	Maj. William 'Bill' 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

Also Known As:

Eagle on His Cap (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The sequences showing the bombing of Hiroshima were lifted from another MGM film, The Beginning or the End (1947), which was about the development and use of the first atomic bombs.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Last scene of film depicts a DC 6 aircraft. The DC 6 began operation in 1946 one year after the WWII ended.

Movie Connections:

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

An old film, but still a current topic of argument.

This is a good film, first line actors, William Wellman the Director was a combat pilot from WWI, and the film avoided most of the tiresome triteness of most war films especially those about flying and pilots.

Most of the commentaries seem to like the film, but not all agree with the political meaning of the film. Some of the comments mention personal connections with the film, so excuse mine. I was a combat pilot in SAC, and was behind one of the switches that could send off bombs more deadly then a 20K bomb. I served in Japan many years after the War. It was my impression that more young Americans faulted our decision to drop the bomb, than the Japanesse who were the actual targets of the bomb. They, like many Germans were ashamed of their acceptance and participation in the War. Today, the most ardent anti-communists are those who actually lived under communism, unlike many college professors and Hollywood actors, producers and writers.

In 1945, the Japanese Military who wanted to continue the war, wanted to fight to the last man. Not unlike Hitler, who could have ended the war, they were willing to expose every man, women and child in their country to death and starvation. Despite years of war (Japan had invaded China in 1931), the Military Junta still had the capacity to inflict horrible casualties on our troops at Okinawa and Iwo Jima, and they were prepared to fight to the death the Allied invasion set for September, 1945.

The US did not have enough fissionable material to make three bombs. Of the two that were dropped, one was made of Uranium 235, and the other Plutonium. Some critics said we should have set off a "show" bomb off the coast of Japan. We used one of our bombs on Hiroshima, and despite the evidence, it took another at Nagasaki to convince the leaders of Japan to end the war. Japan could, and should have quit before all the devastation.

The former Soviet Union entered this same war on the side of Hitler. They took chunks of land from the Poles,Lithuania,Lativia,Estonia and Finland, and chunks of Eastern Europe while Hitler was conquering Eastern and Central Europe. Hitler and Stalin were like two peas in a pod for two years. Stalin's agents in the US infiltrated our government and media and preached peace-because it was in Stalin's interest to keep us out. When Hitler attacked Stalin, some, but not all of Stalin's agents did a complete flip flop, calling for war against the Nazi's. This propaganda and infiltration continued until the collapse of the Soviet's in 1989. Many documents have been released about the communist reaction to Hiroshima. Unlike this film, which could hardly be considered a propaganda movie, the communists tried to use Hiroshima as a propaganda tool in their fight with the West.

Whereas the US pulled out of all its conquered territory, the Soviet's did not. They occupied all of the lands they had taken during the war. History may eventually judge our one moral failure in the War, was allowing our French and British Allies to continue their colonial territories they held before the War. Their rule, however, never approached the Communists tyranny.

As the events portrayed in this film fade into history, so will the effects of the propaganda that still seems to affect some who have bought into their arguments. The fact may explain why some people still celebrate the Fall of the Bastille and the French Revolution, without accepting the fact that their revolution replaced the tyranny of a King, with the tyranny of Napolean. After Waterloo, France was defeated, humiliated, and bankrupt. These events are hard cold historical facts, just as Hiroshima, and the facts that existed in 1945 lead to its destruction and deaths of many innocent people.