Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

A hard-as-nails general takes over a bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Sy Bartlett (screenplay), Beirne Lay Jr. (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gregory Peck	...	Gen. Frank Savage
Hugh Marlowe	...	Lt. Col. Ben Gately
Gary Merrill	...	Col. Davenport
Millard Mitchell	...	General Pritchard
Dean Jagger	...	Major Stovall
Robert Arthur	...	Sgt. McIllhenny
Paul Stewart	...	Maj. 'Doc' Kaiser
John Kellogg	...	Major Cobb
Robert Patten	...	Lt. Bishop (as Bob Patten)
Lee MacGregor	...	Lt. Zimmerman (as Lee Mac Gregor)
Sam Edwards	...	Birdwell
Roger Anderson	...	Interrogation Officer

Storyline

In this story of the early days of daylight bombing raids over Nazi Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a "hard luck" bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over their targets. Actual combat footage is used in this tense war drama.

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Plot Keywords:

american abroad | b 17 bomber | reminiscence | military leadership | world war two | 

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Taglines:

A story of twelve men as their women never knew them...

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 February 1950 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Almas en la hoguera

Filming Locations:

Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Location manager William Eckhardt chose Eglin Air Force Base outside Pensacola, FL for exterior base scenes. Because war time runways were painted black to be less visible from the air and Eglin's runways were white, takeoffs and landings were shot at Ozark Field, an inactive training base in Alabama.

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Goofs

On the last mission General Savage goes on, right after take-off, the camera slowly zooms in on Piccadilly Lily's cockpit. A minute later the camera zooms in on Reluctant Dragon's cockpit, then Fluffy Fuzz's cockpit. All three times the plane in the background is the same #23613 and the stains and dirt on the roof of the three cockpits is the same.

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Quotes

General Savage: No, Sir. I didn't hear a thing. It must have been radio malfunction.
General Pritchard: Do you mean you're going to stick to that fairy tale?
General Savage: Yes, sir. There's one more thing you might as well know, sir. The 918th got through today, and bombed the target when nobody else did. And if Providence ever drops into my lap, another chance like that to give this group the pride it out to have in itself, I may have radio malfunction again, sir.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: LONDON 1949

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Connections

Spoofed in Rocky and His Friends: Topsy Turvy World: Parts 5-6 (1962)

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Soundtracks

Army Air Corps
(aka "army Air Force" and "Wild Blue Yonder") (uncredited)
Words and music by Robert Crawford (as Robert MacArthur Crawford)
Whistled by Robert Arthur

User Reviews

How did Gregory Peck do so many great films?

In writing reviews for IMDb, I have begun to notice just how many exceptional movies Gregory Peck did. Yes, I know he made a few stinkers (such as Days of Glory and Boys From Brazil), but look at all the great movies he did--3 of the best Westerns ever made (The Big Country, The Gunfighter and Yellow Sky), some dandy dramas (To Kill a Mockingbird, Cape Fear) and two of the best war pictures of all time (The Guns of Navarone and this movie, Twelve O'Clock High).

Twelve O'Clock High is exceptional in every way. It is very similar to the excellent movie Command Decision, but goes deeper into the emotional and psychological cost of commanding the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. Whereas Gable is all alone and hated in Command Decision, Peck goes a step further and actually goes on bombing runs with his men--only to become deeply scarred emotionally in the process. As a result, this movie is a fantastic look at the psychological effects of war--something that only rarely gets addressed in war movies.