Twelve O'Clock High [VHS]
by Henry King
![Twelve O'Clock High [VHS]](/images/Twelve-OClock-High-VHS-6300247090-L.jpg)
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Product details
Actor: Dean Jagger, Gary Merrill, Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Millard MitchellDirector: Henry King
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Writer: Henry King
Editor: Barbara McLean
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Writer: Beirne Lay Jr.
Writer: Sy Bartlett
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Running Time: 132 minutes
Release Date: 1998-06-02
Audience Rating: Unrated
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
VHS Movie Reviews of Twelve O'Clock High [VHS]
Movie Review: War as a Deadly Business
Summary: 3 Stars
The film begins when a man buys a mug, then bicycles to a cow pasture. A few years earlier this had been a busy US Air Force B-17 bomber airfield. Then we return to the early days of WW II. A damaged B-17 lands roughly with its combat wounded. Spare planes will arrive, and their next mission will be to fly at 9,000 feet to bomb St. Nazaire and its submarine pens. This lower height results in more accuracy and then fewer missions. [Bombers are long-distance artillery.] Some in the group think they have a jinx for bad luck. [Or at the low end of the learning curve?] No plan is perfect, there is always the unexpected. The film shows how good management can handle problems. Daylight precision bombing is the key to winning the war. It is about production, destroying enemy factories results in a loss of supplies and a less effective armed force. The final target was the ball-bearing factories, the critical part for any mechanical armed force.
A new general starts by enforcing the rules. Visitors will be checked, men will be in uniform and on post; no more slacking off. It's a war, maximum effort is required. General Frank Savage challenges his men to perform better. They should stop worrying about dying and accept the fact some men will die; life will be easier. They will perform better when they have pride in themselves. The best defense against enemy fighters is to fly in close formation so each airplane can defend the others. Any bomber that drops out of formation is likely doomed. These new rules result in better morale and good luck. [The result of more training and experience.] Now men want to sneak aboard to take part in these missions.
The last part of the film shows actual battle scenes from both sides, and the casualties. Gunners are told to use short bursts to save ammunition. Their bombs are dropped when they reach their target. One bomber takes a direct hit and explodes in the air. Others are damaged and fall behind. Enemy fighters are shot down. At the end General Savage suffers from burn out, the result of "maximum effort". Everyone has a breaking point, man or machine. The ending shows 19 of 21 bombers returning, a heavy 9% loss. [The later use of long-distance fighters like the P-51 reduced losses.]
This film is unusual in being primarily about the control and management of a military force (a specialized form of business management). Few films made during WW II are now shown on TV since the 1970s. You can compare this to "A Walk in the Sun" for its point of view. While "Frank Savage" is fictional, there was a reference to "Kirk May"; that could be the real Curtis LeMay. The Strategic Air Command (STRAC?) of the 1950s was a monument to the Air Force, but also massive inefficiency in preparing for a war that never happened. One fault in this film is its worship of authoritarianism, a Great Leader who can do no wrong. Wasn't this what we were fighting? The peace-time draft did two things: it soaked up men to keep unemployment down, and worked to support American hegemony after the defeat of the Axis powers and the declining colonial powers. It provided brain-washing of a generation to a military point of view. [Lately the anti-gun nuts are claiming a .50 caliber rifle could shoot down a jet airplane. This film shows .50 caliber machine guns firing at slower propeller-driven airplanes and mostly missing. They usually needed the combined fire from many machine guns to damage enemy fighters.]
Summary of Twelve O'Clock High [VHS]
The wartime memories of surviving World War II bomber squadrons were still crystal clear when this acclaimed drama was released in 1949--one of the first postwar films out of Hollywood to treat the war on emotionally complex terms. Framed by a postwar prologue and epilogue and told as a flashback appreciation of wartime valor and teamwork, the film stars Gregory Peck in one of his finest performances as a callous general who assumes command of a bomber squadron based in England. At first, the new commander has little rapport with the 918th Bomber Group, whose loyalties still belong with their previous commander. As they continue to fly dangerous missions over Germany, however, the group and their new leader develop mutual respect and admiration, until the once-alienated commander feels that his men are part of a family--men whose bravery transcends the rigors of rigid discipline and by-the-book leadership. The film's now-classic climax, in which the general waits patiently for his squad to return to base--painfully aware that they may not return at all--is one of the most subtle yet emotionally intense scenes of any World War II drama. With Peck in the lead and Dean Jagger doing Oscar-winning work in a crucial supporting role, this was one of veteran director Henry King's proudest achievements, and it still packs a strong dramatic punch. --Jeff ShannonMovies most talked about in Video Genres
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