Twelve O'Clock High

Film Directed by Henry King (1949)

The 1949 motion picture Twelve O'Clock High portrayed World War II U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) bomber command in the European theater of operations. The movie dramatizes how USAAF officers trained and led their bomber crews to perform daylight precision-bombing raids while enduring heavy combat losses. The movie's characters struggle with service politics, self-pity, cowardice, alcoholism, and nervous collapse while trying to perform their strenuous duties honorably and effectively. The movie's title derives from the USAAF practice of identifying attacking enemy aircraft locations by the hands of a clock. The film illuminates America's ambivalent feelings about the hard discipline and high casualties necessary to win a war against a fanatical foe.

[Page 851]Twelve O'Clock High is based on a 1948 novel of the same name by Beirne Lay Jr. and Sy Bartlett, who also cowrote the screenplay with director Henry King. Lay and Bartlett served as both USAAF staff and combat officers in the Eighth Air Force. Lay's flying skills even enabled him to command the 487th Bomb Group. Both authors knew legendary Brig. Gen. Frank Armstrong Jr., who led the first (August 1942) and last (August 1945) USAAF bombing raids of World War II. Their novel is dedicated to Armstrong, the model for its lead character, Brig. Gen. Frank Savage (played in the film by actor Gregory Peck).

Like Armstrong—who during the war relieved his friend Col. Charles Overacker of command of the 306th Bomb Group—in the book and film, Savage relieves his friend, Col. Keith Davenport (portrayed in the film by Gary Merrill), from command of the 918th Bomb Group (306th multiplied times 3). The time is late 1942, and the 918th is “hard luck,” meaning it suffers high casualty rates. It also rarely hits its targets. Davenport is both too fatigued and too forgiving to restore the group's combat effectiveness. So Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard (played by Millard Mitchell)—modeled on U.S. Eighth Air Force's first Commander, Maj. Gen. Ira Eaker (1896–1987)—orders Savage to assume command and whip the group into shape. Pritchard warns Savage that the future of daylight precision bombing is at stake; the 918th must succeed for the Air Force's primary mission to succeed.

Duly warned, Savage imposes severe discipline on the 918th. He makes the group's executive officer, Lt. Col. Ben Gately (played by Hugh Marlowe) a whipping boy for the group's failings, verbally humiliating him for being drunk on duty. Then he demotes Gately to the command of a B-17, “The Leper Colony,” whose crew is composed of the group's foul-ups. Savage replaces Gately with hard-bitten Maj. Joe Cobb (actor John Kellogg). Next, Savage cancels all off-base group passes and imposes “spit and shine” discipline. The 918th drills relentlessly in formation flying and bombing drills. In essence, Savage demands that the 918th grow up, and he demands everyone deliver a “maximum effort.” The group's flight surgeon, Maj. “Doc” Kaiser (actor Paul Stewart), warns Savage not to push his men beyond their limits. Colonel Davenport also asks him to ease up. But Savage continues his strict regimen: during briefings he tells pilots to stop feeling sorry for themselves, telling them, “Consider yourselves already dead!”

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