TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH

This is a 1949 film about US bombing of targets in Europe in World War II which is almost entirely set on an air base in England, there being no action to speak of apart from a bombing sequence near the end which skilfully integrates actual combat footage from the war.

I'm making the film sound dull but quite the opposite, I found it curiously gripping thanks to the excellent screenplay which explores the subject of leadership:  how best to get the 'maximum effort' from your men, and how much we can reasonably expect by way of sacrifice.

The answer to the second question seems to be to drive people until the point that they either commit suicide (as happens here, off-camera) or suffer a nervous or mental breakdown.

The person doing the driving is General Frank Savage (played by Gregory Peck) who gets the job of knocking into shape a USAAF group which is underperforming, possibly because the previous commander got too close to his men.  Savage is made of sterner stuff, applying iron discipline in order to instil pride into the group.  At one point he encourages the men under his command to overcome their natural fears by already considering themselves dead, an interesting motivational technique.  

It's a bit of a shock therefore that before a crucial mission Savage himself suffers some form of breakdown that temporarily incapacitates him.

Of course we are used to the trope of a ragtag bunch of misfits being knocked into shape. The difference here is that the screenplay is based on the writers' real experiences, and on real people, which translates into a film which treats the subject matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Peck gives an understated and compelling performance, ably backed up by all the supporting cast, notably Dean Jagger who picked up an Oscar.