COMMAND DECISION Movie Review

1948 Sam Wood

As a dramatic examination of the air war in Europe, this film is a companion piece to Twelve O'Clock High, made a year later. Both focus on the choices made by the men who ordered the pilots and crews to fly over Germany, and on the forces that shape those choices. Though Command Decision also looks at the military and civilian powers that operate beyond the airfields, it remains essentially a filmed stage play.

The setting is England, 1944, a few weeks before D-Day. For two days in a row, Gen. “Casey” Dennis (Clark Gable) has ordered his B-17s to fly daylight bombing runs deep inside Germany. Both raids have resulted in massive American losses. Gen. Dennis is prepared to order a third raid when he learns that his immediate superior, Maj. Gen. Kane (Walter Pidgeon) is about to visit the base. He'll be followed by an important congressional fact-finding delegation led by the publicity-hungry Rep. Malcolm (Edward Arnold). Kane suggests that they avoid the dangerous missions while the congressmen are on hand and stick to safe runs over the French coast. Gen. Dennis answers that he doesn't know how long the good weather will hold, and he needs two more days to finish the enigmatic “Operation Stitch,” and that, he claims, could be the key to the war. If he's wrong, his friendly rival Gen. Garnet (Brian Donlevy) is on hand to take his job.

The rest is essentially a balancing act that weighs short-term pain against long-term gain. For a time, the strong performances compensate the notable lack of physical action. Pidgeon is able to reveal the various sides of Kane's personality—conniving political animal, realist, survivor, dedicated soldier—making the man a believable contradiction. Key support is supplied by Van Johnson as the sergeant who gets things done, Cameron Mitchell as a haggard navigator, and Charles Bickford as a skeptical war correspondent. But the film belongs to Gable. It was the first film he made after the war, where he had served in the Air Force, and he brings a sense of responsibility and gravity to the role of a man who has made a difficult decision and must fight to hold onto it.

For some viewers, though, his best efforts are not enough to energize the static story. The script, by George Froeschel and William Laidlaw, doesn't break free from the limits of William Wister Haines's play. Some carefully chosen archival footage of exteriors at English airfields provides a needed break, but the film never gets off the ground, literally. None of the action takes place in the air. Director Sam Wood accepts the limits of the stage, letting his characters shuffle in and out of rooms and seldom moves his camera. The most important dramatic moments revolve around guys arguing with each other. When the subject of those arguments finally comes around to pre-war military spending levels and budget cuts, it's difficult for most viewers to care much about the outcome. That's the stuff of policy debates, not of drama.

Cast: Clark Gable (Gen. K.C. “Casey” Dennis), Walter Pidgeon (Maj. Gen. Roland G. Kane), Van Johnson (Tech. Sgt. Immanuel T. Evans), Brian Donlevy (Gen. Clifton Garnet), Charles Bickford (Elmer Brockhurst), John Hodiak (Col. Edward R. Martin), Ray Collins (Maj. Desmond Lansing), Edward Earle (Congressman Watson), Sam Flint (Congressman), Warner Anderson (Col. Ernest Haley), Don Haggerty (Command Officer), Henry Hall (Congressman), Alvin Hammer (Sgt. Cahill), Holmes Herbert (Chairman), Edward Arnold (Congressman Malcolm), Cameron Mitchell (Lt. Ansel Goldberg), Moroni Olsen (Congressman Stone); Written by: George Froeschel, William Wister Haines, William R. Laidlaw; Cinematography by: Harold Rosson; Music by: Miklos Rozsa. Producer: MGM, Sidney Franklin. Running Time: 112 minutes. Format: VHS.