Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

DSpaceNine Consider this movie one of the greats in the realm of WWII films.Draws you right into some huge decisions that had to be made in the European theater in WWII and the difficulties encountered while forming our own air force.Well acted too, especially for a 1948 movie. Not to slam acting in old movies, it was often more 'wooden'. Not in this movie though.There's a discourse among the brass where Walter Pigeon had a large piece of dialog. His delivery was electrifying, had me on the edge of my seat. It's not often dialog can grip you like that.Character development is also at play, where time is taken to identify many types of people and troops, from the heroic to the playboy to the conscientious to the cowardly.The use of a "situation room" proved pivotal in keeping us focused on the war goals, helps the story along from a historical sense.Not only were command decisions explored, but the personal decisions were touched on, where you get to glimpse the human behind the command bravado. Excellent.The use of wartime footage was brief yet appropriate. This is a film about people and decisions, and any further focus on 'action' would detract in my opinion.Wartime perils, where and how our brave men had to die, for the larger goal. This is a view into the commanders who have been through what they're now asking the troops to go through. They understand what they are asking of the crews, and the crews respect them because of it.There's also a study on transfer of command, fascinating. These were reasonable men who knew what had to be done and had the will to give the orders, to make the command decisions that needed to be made. Excellent piece of WWII film making, highly recommended.

dimplet Reviewer kellyadmirer makes some good points about the historical inaccuracies in Command Decision. Germany didn't put jet planes into the air until near the end of the war. And they could have flown a heck of a lot faster than shown in the surveillance footage in CD. But CD doesn't claim to be non-fiction, and I have long since abandoned expectations of historical accuracy from any Hollywood film, even those claiming to be non-fiction. In CD, the target is jet fighter factories; in Twelve O'Clock High it is ball bearing factories. The point is not historical details such as this, but whether the film realistically depicts the events and time period. In this regard, CD is accurate, I assume, as is TOH. CD is somewhat cerebral, it is not so emotionally gripping. But then when you realize that Clark Gable actually flew bombing missions over Germany, it gives the film a whole new sense of reality. I viewed Dawn Patrol (1938), then Command Decision, and then TOH, which is also the order they were released. I would suggest other viewers do the same, as they are all on the same theme. CD is good, but TOH is the best, and so it is better to watch it last. But they each enhance the other by providing additional perspectives. (There is a fourth movie you should watch: Battle of Britain (1969), along with the BBC documentary on the subject. It is the most historically accurate, and is essential to understanding perhaps the most important battle of WWII, and the incredible bravery of WWII Allied aviators.)It is amusing comparing the style of CD and TOH. Even without seeing the credits, many viewers would recognize CD as an MGM film from its Hollywood style. TOH has a grittier, more realistic style. But in its defense, CD is set at a higher level of command, so the housing of these officers is a lot classier, which fits the MGM approach. However, I can't help wondering if CD was hurt by the somewhat formulaic film production approach at MGM. I see from IMDb that CD did not do well in its original release. Perhaps audiences wanted more action and less talking from a war movie. Ironically, TOH also has relatively little battle action. But I think CD has held up well over the years, and perhaps can be better appreciated by today's viewers precisely because it is not about battle scenes. It is about the human drama of having to make difficult life and death decisions, where you can be certain many under your command will die the next day, but if you don't take that course, many more will die later in the year. The calculus of war depicted in CD reminds me of Sergeant York, who finally decided killing was justified in war if it stopped the killing sooner, and resulted in fewer people dying. He killed because he wanted to stop the killing. Despite the inaccuracies, CD is right about the threat posed by German jet planes. I say "planes" because Hitler, strangely enough, didn't want to use jets for fighters! He felt fighters were defensive weapons, and he wanted to build offensive weapons, so he felt jets should be used for bombers, and for revenge on England. And he thought the war would be over sooner, so he initially rejected building jets. The British were offered design plans for jet planes before WWII began, with Power Jets beginning design in 1936. Some say the British military were slow to accept the idea, though not after the war began. The Gloster Meteor first flew in 1943, and entered combat in 1944.The German's Me 262 could accelerate to 530 mph, 93 mph faster than any Allied prop fighter. The Me 262's first test jet flight was in July 1942, in line with CD. But it didn't enter combat until April 1944. Did Allied bombing delay its manufacture, as depicted in CD? Actually, if Hitler had begun mass producing jet fighters earlier, as depicted in CD, Hitler might have won the war. By 1944, the Allies were building so many aircraft they had nearly complete dominance over European skies. But a German jet fighter could have been a serious threat.

sadsit Regardless of this movie's flaws, there cannot be too much tribute heaped upon the conduct of the men of United States Army 8th Air Force in World War II. This movie does an excellent job of depicting the personal cost of following one's personal convictions in a very harrowing time. Gable does an excellent job a commander under tremendous pressure. In 1943, the 8th was still without long range fighter escort capability, and the danger on deep penetration strikes was horrific. The mission life expectancy of air crew was measured in single digits. It was a shame "Memphis Belle" was turned into a Hollywood-O-Rama version, because the real version of the first bomber crew to survive 25 missions unscathed is sufficient. The losses incurred in trying to knock out the German ball bearing industry over Schweinfurt in October, 1943 very nearly ended daylight bombardment. The fact that even in the face of such opposition, no 8th Air Force mission was ever turned back by enemy action, is an amazing chapter in the annals of war. To me the movie's finest moment comes when Donlevy as General Garnett, who has relieved Gable as the Division Commander, orders the same strike that Gable was going to, against Fendelhorst. Just before he gave that order, Gable gave Donlevy perhaps the finest advice ever found in a war movie. In reference to his men, when he tells him to make sure not one of their lives is wasted.

bkoganbing Command Decision was adapted from a Broadway play that ran for 409 performances the previous year. Tony Awards were won by Paul Kelly who played General K.C. Dennis and James Whitmore for Tech Sergeant Emanuel Evans. The play shows the process of making military decisions when you have to factor in the politicians who control the purse strings. It's a necessary evil in a society that values civilian control of the military.Both during and after World War II there was a debate among the British and American air commanders over the value of daylight versus nighttime bombing attacks. The British did night raids over Germany, responding in kind to what the Luftwaffe had done to them. Fly over at high altitudes and just drop the bombs. It did make for fewer casualties among the RAF pilots of their Lancaster bombers.The Americans opted for daylight raids at a lower altitude trying to hit certain strategic objectives. In Command Decision it involves three factories that intelligence has learned are manufacturing new jet aircraft. If the Nazis had ever developed the far advanced jets against the Allied propeller aircraft in any number, the course of the war over Europe might have changed. Just like the V-2 rockets were developed too late to help the Axis cause.Command Decision has Clark Gable leading a distinguished cast as the general who has to make the decision about whether to bomb or not, to go into Germany's heartland without fighter escort. Unfortunately his purely military outlook is not shared by his immediate superior Walter Pidgeon who has to factor in the politicians in Congress who read the dispatches by correspondents like Charles Bickford here about the appalling losses in American life. In many ways Pidgeon has the most difficult part in the film. He has to take in the voices of objection raised by the visiting Congressional delegation led by Edward Arnold. Pidgeon is a politician, but purely by necessity. We admire Gable's stand on principle, but the audience also respects Pidgeon and sympathizes with him.On Broadway Command Decision takes place in the headquarters and to make it better for the screen, playwright William Wister Haines wrote an additional scene that Paul Kelly did not do on Broadway. Clark Gable on a radio microphone tries to talk down a bombardier who is piloting a plane where the pilot and co-pilot are wounded and killed. It's a harrowing scene and one of the best Clark Gable ever did. Gable must have drawn from his World War II experience, he was a tailgunner in our Army Air Corps and flew many a B-17 mission over Germany.Rounding out a distinguished group of MGM contractees are Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Marshall Thompson, Cameron Mitchell, Warner Anderson, Ray Collins, John McIntire and John Hodiak. They all cast well as Army Air Force personnel. Johnson plays the part that James Whitmore originated on stage and provides what little humor there is in this film.The main criticism of Command Decision has always been that it is too stagey. But I found it an absorbing account of the decision making process in a military command.