TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949)

Cast

Plot

A powerful World War II drama with a great performance from Gregory Peck as the General sent to boost the morale of an exhausted World War II American bomber group in England. High Command feels that the CO, Merrill, who appalled by the casualty rates, is reluctant to turn the screw, is too emotionally involved with his men. Their deteriorating results are casting doubts in high places about the value of the new experimental daylight precision bombing. A superb first half dissects the sense of demoralisation within the group, already bowed under its reputation as a hard-luck outfit, and initially wilting even further as Peck applies kill or cure remedies, like segregating the worst misfits into a crew known as 'The Leper Colony'. But when he himself succumbs to the pressure, he needs the help of the men he was sent to save. Stunning aerial shots.