Dad's Movies: "Twelve O'Clock High"

 This is a pretty obvious one, 1949's Twelve O'Clock High.

This movie sits at an interesting crossroads in movie history. The film gets into serious detail about a bomber squadron doing daytime raids against Germany, which was a new thing for the Allies at the time. It was also very dangerous with high casualty rates. Gregory Peck's character comes in to relieve the squadron leader who is having difficulty maintaining the bombing campaigns while his men suffer losses and high levels of stress. 

There is a level of realism and honesty about war that was almost unheard of for WW2 movies at that time. On the other hand, the dialogue and some stylistic touches are more similar to movies made during the war. Overall, the show really strives for a realistic and sympathetic approach and was rated very highly by WW2 vets as one of the only movies that came close to depicting what is was like for these flight crews. 

The movie is very talky with many scenes taking place in offices and personal quarters, which makes things seem slow. If I had a criticism, it would be that there were a few too many early in the film speeches and exchanges, especially given how well done and tense the one late-film air battle is. Also great is the realistic look of the sets and exteriors; those are real B-17s being used in the takeoff and landing sequences. The stock combat footage is well integrated into the movie.

The cast is overall very good. I don't always love Peck's acting style, but he's great here, though he seems a little young to be a general. Nitpicks.

I'm sure Dad found this movie to be hard hitting, given his time building combat aircraft during the war.