''Twelve O'Clock High'' is a 1949 American
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
directed by
Henry King and based on the novel of the same name by
Sy Bartlett and
Beirne Lay Jr. It stars
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...
as Brig. General Frank Savage.
Hugh Marlowe,
Gary Merrill,
Millard Mitchell, and
Dean Jagger also appear in supporting roles.
The film was nominated for four
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
and won two: Dean Jagger for
Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and
Thomas T. Moulton for
Best Sound Recording.
["The 22nd Academy Awards (1950) Nominees and Winners."](_blank)
''oscars.org.'' Retrieved: August 18, 2011. In 1998, ''Twelve O'Clock High'' was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In 1949, former
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
officer Harvey Stovall spots a familiar
Toby Jug in the window of a London antique shop and learns that it came from Archbury, an airfield where Stovall served during World War II. Convinced that it is the same jug which used to stand on the mantel of the airfield's officers' club, he buys it and journeys to the derelict airfield, where he reflects on his wartime experiences.
In a
flashback, the setting shifts to 1942, when the 918th Bomb Group at Archbury has gained a reputation as the "hard luck group". After a particularly disastrous mission, group commander Colonel Keith Davenport appears exhausted and demoralized. His defeatist attitude spreads to other senior leaders of the group, including his Air Exec, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Gately. Ordered to fly another mission the next day, at a dangerously low altitude, Davenport protests to his friend, Brigadier General Frank Savage, the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations at
VIII Bomber Command. Later, Savage reluctantly shares with Major General Pritchard, the commanding general of VIII Bomber Command, his belief that Davenport has become emotionally too close to his men and may no longer be fit to command. That night, Pritchard and Savage visit the group headquarters to investigate the cause of the mission's heavy losses. After a discussion that ends in Davenport's refusal to demote failed navigator Lt. Zimmerman, Pritchard realizes that Savage is right, relieves Davenport of command, hands the command to Savage.
Savage takes a harsh approach to restoring the group's discipline and morale. He begins by reprimanding Gately, demoting him to aircraft commander and insisting that he henceforth fly every mission. Savage assigns Gately only the most incompetent crewmen, ordering him to paint the name "Leper Colony" on his airplane. Rough-and-ready Major Cobb impresses Savage with his independent spirit and replaces Gately as Air Exec. Savage conducts a series of training missions and waits for an opportunity to restore the group's pride in its abilities. Upset by the contrast of Savage's stern leadership with Davenport's easygoing ways, all of the group's pilots apply for transfers. Savage asks the Group
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...
, Major Stovall, to delay processing their applications to buy him some time. An attorney in civilian life, Stovall knows how to use bureaucratic
red tape
Red tape is a concept employed to denounce excessive or redundant regulation and adherence to formal rules for creating unnecessary constraints on action and decision-making. The occurrence of red tape is usually associated with governments but a ...
to his advantage.
When the group returns to combat, all the groups are ordered to abort their mission due to heavy weather. Savage ignores the recall order. The 918th successfully bombs the target and is the only group to do so. All of its crews return safely. Though Pritchard is furious, Savage claims that he did not hear the recall due to a radio malfunction and instead persuades Pritchard to recommend the group for a
Distinguished Unit Citation. Savage also acquires a surrogate son in Lieutenant Jesse Bishop, a
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient who is Savage's eyes and ears among the combat aircrews.
When the
Inspector General arrives to investigate the pilots' transfer requests, Savage packs his belongings, expecting to be relieved of command and possibly court-martialed. But, led by Bishop, the pilots withdraw their requests. Savage also softens his attitude towards the men as he becomes more closely involved with them. Gately goes on to win Savage's respect and admiration by demonstrating extraordinary leadership and courage in combat.
With enemy resistance intensifying as the air war advances deeper into Germany, missions become longer and riskier and many of Savage's best men are shot down or killed. Pritchard tries to get Savage to return to a staff job at VIII Bomber Command, but Savage feels that the 918th is not yet ready to do without him. Reluctantly, Pritchard leaves him in command. Ordered to return to the same target after a particularly brutal raid on a
ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
factory, Savage finds himself physically unable to haul himself up into his
B-17. Gately takes his place as lead pilot and strike commander for the mission. While waiting for the group's return, Savage becomes
catatonic. Only as they return to Archbury does he regain his composure and fall asleep.
The story then returns to 1949, as Stovall pedals away from Archbury.
Cast
*
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...
as Brig. Gen. Frank Savage
*
Hugh Marlowe as Lt. Col. Ben Gately
*
Gary Merrill as Col. Keith Davenport
*
Millard Mitchell as Maj. Gen. Pritchard
*
Dean Jagger as Major Harvey Stovall
*
Robert Arthur as Sgt. McIllhenny
*
Paul Stewart as Major "Doc" Kaiser
*
John Kellogg as Major Joe Cobb
*
Robert Patten as Lt. Bishop (credited as Bob Patten)
* Lee MacGregor as Lt. Zimmerman
*
Sam Edwards
Sam George Edwards (May 26, 1915 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor. His most famous role on television was as banker Bill Anderson on ''Little House on the Prairie''.D.S.S. Form 1 Military Draft Registration Card completed on October 16, ...
as Birdwell
* Roger Anderson as Interrogation Officer
*
Kenneth Tobey
Jesse Kenneth Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an American actor active from the early 1940s into the 1990s, with over 200 credits in film, theatre, and television. He is best known for his role as a captain who takes charg ...
as Guard Post Sergeant (uncredited)
Historical counterparts of characters
The character Brigadier General Frank Savage was a composite of several group commanders, but the primary inspiration was
Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, who commanded the
306th Bomb Group on which the 918th was modeled.
[Bowman, Martin]
'12 O'Clock High.'
''Osprey Publishing,'' 1999. The name "Savage" was inspired by Armstrong's
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
heritage. While his work with the 306th, which lasted only six weeks, consisted primarily of rebuilding the chain of command within the group, Armstrong had earlier performed a similar task with the
97th Bomb Group. Many of the training and disciplinary scenes in ''Twelve O'Clock High'' derive from that experience.
Towards the end of the film, the near-catatonic
battle fatigue that General Savage suffered and the harrowing missions that led up to it were inspired by the experiences of Brigadier General Newton Longfellow. The symptoms of the breakdown were not based on any real-life event, but instead were intended to portray the effects of intense stress experienced by many airmen.
[
Major General Pritchard was modeled on the VIII Bomber Command's first commander, Major General Ira C. Eaker.][
Colonel Keith Davenport was based on the first commander of the 306th Bomb Group, Colonel Charles B. Overacker, nicknamed "Chip".][ Of all the personalities portrayed in ''Twelve O'Clock High'', that of Colonel Davenport most closely parallels his true-life counterpart. The early scene in which Davenport confronts Savage about a mission order was a close recreation of an actual event, as was his relief.
Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harvey Stovall, who is a former ]World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
U.S. Army Air Service pilot who has returned to active duty as a nonflying adjutant, was modeled on William Howard Stovall, a World War I flying ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...
who returned to active duty as a major in the USAAF the week following Pearl Harbor, and served as the nonflying deputy chief of staff for personnel for the 8th Air Force in England for his World War I comrades, Brigadier General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter and General Carl Spaatz.
Second Lieutenant Jesse Bishop (played by Robert Patten), who belly-lands in the B-17 next to the runway at the beginning of the film and was nominated for the Medal of Honor, had his true-life counterpart in Second Lieutenant John C. Morgan.[ The description of Bishop's fight to control the bomber after his pilot was hit in the head by fragments of a 20 mm cannon shell is taken almost verbatim from Morgan's Medal of Honor citation. Details may be found in ''The 12 O'Clock High Logbook''. Patten had been a USAAF navigator in World War II, the only member of the cast with aircrew experience.
Sergeant McIllhenny was drawn from a member of the 306th Bomb Group, Sgt Donald Bevan,][Correll, John T]
'The Real Twelve O’Clock High.'
''The Air Force Association'' via ''airforcemag.com,'' Volume 94, Issue 1, January 2011. a qualified gunner who was assigned ground jobs, including part-time driver for the commander of his squadron. Bevan had received publicity as a stowaway gunner (similar to McIllhenny in the film), though in reality, he had been invited to fly missions. Like McIllhenny, he proved to be a "born gunner".
The "tough guy" character Major Joe Cobb was inspired by Colonel Paul Tibbets, who had flown B-17s with Colonel Armstrong.[ Tibbets was initially approved as the film's technical advisor in February 1949, but was replaced shortly after by Colonel John H. de Russy, a former operations officer for the 305th Bomb Group.
]
Production
According to their files, 20th Century Fox paid $100,000 outright for the rights to the unfinished book, plus up to $100,000 more in escalator and book-club clauses. Darryl Zanuck was apparently convinced to pay this high price when he heard that William Wyler
William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born American film director and producer. Known for his work in numerous genres over five decades, he received numerous awards and accolades, including three Aca ...
was interested in purchasing it for Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS.
**Paramount Picture ...
. Even then, Zanuck only went through with the deal in October 1947 when he was certain that the United States Air Force would support the production.[ The film made use of actual combat footage during the battle scenes, including some shot by the ]Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
.['Notes: Twelve O'Clock High.']
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: October 16, 2022. A good deal of the production was filmed on Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County.
The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...
and its associated auxiliary fields near Fort Walton, Florida.
Source material
Screenwriters Bartlett and Lay drew on their own wartime experiences with Eighth Air Force bomber units. At the Eighth Air Force headquarters, Bartlett had worked closely with Colonel Armstrong, who was the primary model for the character General Savage. The film's 918th Bomber Group was modeled primarily on the 306th because that group remained a significant part of the Eighth Air Force throughout the war in Europe.
Casting
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...
was interested in the lead role of General Frank Savage. Gable, who had served in the USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
during World War II, played a similar role in the 1948 film '' Command Decision''. John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
was offered the leading role, as well, but turned it down. Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...
, James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...
, Dana Andrews, Van Heflin, Edmond O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and award ...
, Robert Preston, Robert Young, and Robert Montgomery were also considered for the role. Eventually, the role went to Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...
, who initially turned it down because the script was similar to ''Command Decision''. Peck changed his mind because he was impressed with director Henry King, finding his empathy with the material and the cast and crew appealing. The two made more films together: '' The Gunfighter'' (1950), '' David and Bathsheba'' (1952), '' The Bravados'' (1958), and '' Beloved Infidel'' (1959).
Filming
Veterans of the heavy bomber campaign frequently cite ''Twelve O'Clock High'' as the only Hollywood film that accurately captured their combat experiences. Along with the 1948 film '' Command Decision'', it marked a turning away from the optimistic, morale-boosting style of wartime films and toward a grittier realism that deals more directly with the human costs of war. Both films deal with the realities of daylight precision bombing without fighter escort, the basic USAAF doctrine
Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...
at the start of World War II (prior to the arrival of long-range Allied fighter aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed ...
). As producers, writers Lay and Bartlett reused major plot elements of ''Twelve O'Clock High'' in later films featuring the U.S. Air Force, the 1950s-era ''Toward the Unknown
''Toward the Unknown'', originally called ''Flight Test Center'' and titled ''Brink of Hell'' in its UK release, is a 1956 American aviation film about the dawn of supersonic flight filmed on location at Edwards Air Force Base. Starring William ...
'' and the early 1960s Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
-era '' A Gathering of Eagles''.
Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was an American air racing and movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.
Early years
Ma ...
, Hollywood's leading stunt pilot, was paid the then-unprecedented sum of $4,500 in 1948 ($58,000 in 2024) to crash-land a B-17 bomber for one early scene in the film. Frank Tallman, Mantz' partner in Tallmantz Aviation, wrote in his autobiography that while many B-17s had been landed by one pilot, as far as he knew, this flight was the first time that a B-17 ever took off with only one pilot and no other crew; nobody was sure that it could be done. " The footage was used again in the 1962 film '' The War Lover''.
Locations for creating the bomber airfield at the fictional RAF Archbury were scouted by director Henry King, flying his own Beech Bonanza some 16,000 miles in February and March 1949. King visited Eglin AFB on March 8, 1949, and found an ideal location for principal photography several miles north of the main base at its Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field No. 3, better known as Duke Field, where the mock installation with 15 buildings (including a World War II control tower) were constructed to simulate RAF Archbury.[Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. , p. 149.] The film's technical advisor, Colonel John de Russy, was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base
Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. ...
, Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
, at the time, and suggested Ozark Army Air Field near Daleville, Alabama (now known as Cairns Army Airfield, adjacent to Fort Rucker). King chose Cairns as the location for filming B-17 takeoffs and landings, including the B-17 belly landing sequence, since the light-colored runways at Eglin did not match wartime runways in England, which had been black to make them less visible to enemy aircraft. When the crew arrived at Cairns, it was also considered as "ideal for shots of Harvey Stovall reminiscing about his World War II service", since the field was somewhat overgrown.[ The opening and closing scenes of the derelict RAF Archbury, referencing themes in the film, have a very similar approach to the opening scenes of the derelict fictional RAF Halfpenny Field in the earlier 1945 film '' The Way to the Stars''.
Additional background photography was shot at RAF Barford St John, a satellite station of RAF Croughton in ]Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, England. Officially, the airfield is still under Ministry of Defence
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
ownership following its closure in the late 1990s as a communications station linked to the since-closed RAF Upper Heyford. Other locations around Eglin AFB and Fort Walton also served as secondary locations for filming. The crew used 12 B-17s for filming, which were pulled from QB-17 drones used at Eglin and other B-17s from depot locations in Alabama and New Mexico. Since some of the aircraft had been used in the 1946 Bikini atomic experiments and absorbed high levels of radioactivity, they could only be used for shooting for limited periods.[
''Twelve O'Clock High'' was in production from late April to early July 1949. Although originally planned to be shot in Technicolor, it was instead shot in black and white, allowing the inclusion of actual combat footage by Allied and Luftwaffe cameras.][
]
Reception
''Twelve O'Clock High'' premiered in Los Angeles on December 21, 1949, and opened in New York City on January 26, 1950. It went into general release in February 1950. An influential review by Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' was indicative of many contemporary reviews. He noted that the film focused more on the human element than the aircraft or machinery of war. The ''Times'' picked ''Twelve O'Clock High'' as one of the 10 Best Films of 1949 and, in later years, it rated the film as one of the "Best 1000" of all time.["Awards."]
''Allmovie''. Retrieved: October 16, 2022.
After attending the premiere, the commander of the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
, General Curtis LeMay
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a United States Air Force, US Air Force General (United States), general who was a key American military commander during the Cold War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United St ...
, told the authors that he "couldn't find anything wrong with it." It was required viewing at all the U.S. service academies, college/university Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps detachments, Air Force Officer Training Schools, the U.S. Navy's former Aviation Officer Candidate School, and the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School, where it was used as a teaching example for the situational leadership theory, although not currently used by the USAF. The film is also widely used in both the military and civilian worlds to teach the principles of leadership.
Michael Gebert declares it the best film of 1949. and Christopher Tookey writes, it is "probably the best picture about the pressures which war imposes on those at the top."
In its initial release, the film took in $3,225,000 in rentals in the U.S. alone.
Awards and honors
''Twelve O'Clock High'' won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Dean Jagger and Best Sound Recording. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Gregory Peck and Best Picture. In addition, Peck received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, and the film was nominated for Best Picture by the National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...
.[
In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".]["Hooray for Hollywood - Librarian Names 25 More Films to National Registry."](_blank)
''Library of Congress,'' 1998.
Meaning of the title
The term "twelve o'clock high" refers to the practice of calling out the positions of attacking enemy aircraft by reference to an imaginary clock face, with the bomber at the center. The terms "high" (above the bomber), "level" (at the same altitude as the bomber) and "low" (below the bomber) further refine the location of the enemy. Thus "twelve o'clock high" meant the attacker was approaching from directly ahead and above. This location was preferred by German fighter pilots because, until the introduction of the Bendix chin turret in the B-17G model, the nose of the B-17 was the most lightly armed and vulnerable part of the bomber. Enemy fighter aircraft diving from above were also more difficult targets for the B-17 gunners due to their high closing speeds.
Bartlett's wife, actress Ellen Drew, named the story after hearing Bartlett and Lay discuss German fighter tactics, which usually involved head-on attacks from "twelve o'clock high".[
]
Radio and television
Gregory Peck repeated his role as General Savage on a '' Screen Guild Players'' radio broadcast on September 7, 1950.[
''Twelve O'Clock High'' later became a television series of the same name that premiered on the ABC network in 1964 and ran for three seasons. Robert Lansing played General Savage. At the end of the first season, Lansing was replaced by Paul Burke, who played Colonel Joseph Anson "Joe" Gallagher, a character loosely based on Ben Gately from the novel.][Duffin, Allan T. and Paul Matheis. ''The 12 O'Clock High Logbook''. Albany, Georgia: Bearmanor Media, 2005. .] Much of the combat footage seen in the film was reused in the television series.
Many of the television show's ground scenes were filmed at the Chino, California
Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region.
Chino's surroundings ha ...
, airport, which had been used for training Army pilots during the war, and where a replica of a control tower, typical of the type seen at an 8th Air Force airfield in England, was built. The airfield itself was used in the immediate postwar period as a dump for soon-to-be-scrapped fighters and bombers, and was used for the penultimate scene in ''The Best Years of Our Lives
''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (also known as ''Glory for Me'' and ''Home Again'') is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold Ru ...
'' when Dana Andrews relives his wartime experiences and goes on to rebuild his life.[Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. , p. 122.]
References
Informational notes
Citations
Further reading
* US Army Air Force. "Target:Germany, The US Army Air Forces' Official Story of the VIII Bomber Command's First Year Over Europe". 1 Jan 1944
* Army Air Forces Aid Society. ''The Official Guide to the Army Air Forces''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944.
* Caidin, Martin. ''Black Thursday''. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1960. .
* Caidin, Martin. ''Everything But the Flak''. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1964.
* Caidin, Martin. ''Flying Forts: The B-17 in World War II''. New York: Meredith Press, 1968.
* Dolan, Edward F. Jr. ''Hollywood Goes to War''. London: Bison Books, 1985. .
* Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." ''The Making of the Great Aviation Films''. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
* Kerrigan, Evans E. ''American War Medals and Decorations''. New York: Viking Press, 1964. .
* Lay, Beirne Jr. and Sy Bartlett. '' 12 O'Clock High''. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948 (Reprint 1989). .
"Medal of Honor Recipients, World War II (M-S)."
''United States Army Center of Military History.''
* Murphy, Edward F. ''Heroes of WWII''. Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1990. .
* Rubin, Steven Jay
"Chapter 3, Twelve O'clock High."
''Combat Films: American Realism, 1945–2010''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co., 2011.
External links
''Twelve O’Clock High''
essay by Luisa F. Ribeiro at National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
''Twelve O’Clock High''
essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pp. 431–432
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twelve O'clock High
1949 films
1949 war films
American war films
American aviation films
American black-and-white films
1940s English-language films
World War II films based on actual events
World War II aviation films
Films about the United States Army Air Forces
Films adapted into television shows
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Films based on American novels
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance
Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award
20th Century Fox films
Films directed by Henry King
Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Films scored by Alfred Newman
United States National Film Registry films
1940s American films
English-language war films