Twelve O'Clock High (2007, DVD)

Twelve O'clock High (1949)

Twelve O'clock High is a great character study showing the toll leadership takes on the successive commanders of a bomber group in WWII.

After Americans get involved in the bombing of Germany from air bases in England, the US 918th Bomber Group has huge casualties, sinking morale, and a commanding officer (Gary Merrill) who is too close to his men, starting to crack under the pressure of sending men to their deaths every morning after roll call. Our doorway into this strange world is Group Executive Officer Major Stovall portrayed by Dean Jagger, who won a best supporting actor Oscar for his work here.

As Group Commander, Merrill's performance fails to satisfy Brigadier General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck), commander of the next higher echelon, so Peck relieves Merrill and assumes command of the Group himself. He little realizes that his tough as nails approach will soon dissolve into panic, nightmares, and ineffectiveness as he begins to worry unduly about the men under his charge himself, just as his predecessor had.

Twelve O'clock High takes a different approach from the prototypical war movie, showing the mundane, day-to-day activities of the air base and the interactions of the command personnel. The movie in fact, starts as a flash back; as Dean Jagger re-visits England and the site of the old air base, his reminiscences blossom into the story. Punctuating the routine sequences are scenes of air to air combat gleaned from WWII gun camera pictures, from both Allied and German archives.

The direction is pretty predictable, from the no-frills Henry King, who was one of the steady directors at Fox. The casting was excellent, with an ensemble of experienced players like Gary Merrill (All About Eve); Dean Jagger (Elmer Gantry); Hugh O'Brian (The Shootist); Millard Mitchell (Winchester 73); Hugh Marlowe; and many more familiar faces. The real performance is by Peck, who works hard to make his men fear him and shows his mettle by matching his men mission for mission. Still, as the Bomber Group begins to build some esprit de corps, despite Peck's prickly behavior, Peck's emotional state is deteriorating to the point he is a blubbering wreck by film's end.

As an aside, the study of emotionally taxing occupations like the men flying the planes across interlocking fields of ack-ack fire and the officers sending them off to probable destruction has allowed the military services to begin to know the limits of the pressures most men can take. Therefore, a limit of 25 combat missions was imposed for the air crews based on the experiences of men like those depicted in Twelve O'clock High. Even though the standard was hard to attain, it did give the men hope, a vital commodity.

The Fox DVD is presented in black and white, in full frame (4x3) format as it was seen in theaters, and runs a lengthy 132 minutes. The image has not been restored and there is some film degradation with variable softness in some images. The only extras are five war movie previews, none for Twelve O'clock High, however.

Recommended for fans of Aviation, Drama, Psychology, and War movies.

A similar movie about aviation in the First World War is the terrific Dawn Patrol, starring Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone. Great vintage footage of original biplanes dogfighting.