Cinema Revisited: Twelve O’clock High (1949)
Directed by Henry King. Starring Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Dean Jagger. Released December 21, 1949. Running time: 132 minutes.
"Twelve O’clock High" was a WW2 movie made a few years after the war ended when American culture was rebuilding and moving on. Weary from the Depression and wartime, Americans build up suburban neighborhoods and entered a period of domestic tranquility where the economy steadily improved, men had jobs and middle class family situations were bastions of comfortability. It wasn't until the mid-50s when a new post-war youth culture emerged from James Dean, Marlon Brando, comic books and rock and roll, and integration started to be discussed. It was an odd period, one that tried hard to get away from the tensions of the past two decades and settle into a lifestyle that was without problems at so large a scale.
The significance of this movie during those times is that it doesn't simply reinforce the rah-rah mentality of a war most Americans believe they proudly won. It instead confronts the challenges of wartime, the ugliness of battle and, most of all, the psychological effect on aircrews who flew bombing missions against Germany and occupied France.
The film opens with Dean Jagger as Harvey Stovall, who, during the course of his service, earned the level of Major and, later Lieutenant Colonel. Stovall sees a decorative Toby jug in the window of an antique shop and, after inquiring, learns it came from the air field where he once served. He then recalls having seen it in the officer's club. He buys the jug, and travels to the now deserted airfield. As he surveys the remains, his mind recalls his service, particularly during the period of 1942, when he is part of a unit that suffers terrible losses during their bombing missions. Gregory Peck stars as General Frank Savage, who is assigned to take over the unit and inspire their lost confidence.
Savage is told by a General Pritchard (played by Millard Mitchell), "I'm promising you nothing except a job no man should have to do who's already has his share of combat. I have to ask you to take nice kids and fly them until they can't take anymore. And then put them back in and fly them some more."
From that point, General Savage embodies the relentless leader who works his men to their absolute limit, making life or death decisions for a group whose sense of security has dropped so much, some of the men have committed suicide. For those who only know Peck as the estimable characters he played in films like "Gentleman's Agreement" or "To Kill a Mockingbird," the coldness he displays as the hard-edged general will allow them to appreciate his range as an actor. Peck responded well to director Henry King's approach (check out their western collaboration "The Gunfighter"). Peck's work when confronting Hugh Marlowe as the apprehensive Lieutenant Colonel Gately, attacking him for cowardice and promising he will fly each mission, is one of the most emotionally stirring scenes either actor would ever play. And the scene where Peck is unable to pull himself into the plane, his arms locking up from suppressed emotional stress, his hands trembling, is another extraordinary moment in a film that can boast several.
"Twelve O’clock High" is not an action film, despite its setting. There is some actual footage used, and one scene, where stuntman Paul Mantz was paid $4500 to crash land a B-17 bomber, is quite impressive. However, for the most part, this film relies more heavily on dialog. However, this does not mean the film is at all discursive. The writing, with a screenplay by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. from their novel, is filled with sharp, compelling dialog that never becomes tedious or dull. And it is filled with emotional scenes like the officer whose job it is to send letters to bereaved parents announcing that their son is a casualty. The ending, when the emotionally disillusioned Stovall is faded into new footage where a weeping veteran recalls something that will impact forever, is beautifully shot.
At the time, "Twelve O’clock High" was one of the first films to confront the psychological effect of wartime and its dangerous missions. It was often cited by actual surviving bomber crew members for its accuracy. In the 21st century, it holds up not only as a significant early look at the effects of war, but also as a film that continues to resonate for its acting, its direction and its writing. I vaguely recall a TV series during the mid 1960s.