About one-fourth of the way through watching Command Decision I remarked to Margaret that the movie was obviously based on the script for a play, only slightly re-written for the cinema. I pointed out that there were few sets in the movie, that individual scenes were often shot from a fixed camera angle, and that there was a lot of careful choreographing of the multiple characters in the camera’s view. Margaret responded that "It obviously was based on a play or a book, because it was about ideas.” I shut up and sat back to watch the rest of the movie in silence.
Command Decision is about ideas and it is based on a play. It examines high level decision making in the American WWII 8th Air Force during the early period of the American strategic bombing campaign, when fighter cover was not available for bombing raids over Germany. The movie’s primary star is Clark Gable, but is very much a group effort, dependent on a wonderful cast in supporting roles, including Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford, and John Hodiak. The ideas lead to professional and person ambitions and sacrifice at the highest level, without ignoring the fact that high level decisions lead to anonymous men dying in combat.
Gable plays an 8th Air force officer, Brig. General Dennis, who has ordered a series of deep penetration raids into Germany which are, in his opinion, critical to the ultimate success of the Allied war effort, even though those raids will produce tremendous casualties among his crews. Dennis does this at a time when he is only temporarily in command. The decision about the importance and the timeliness of the raids was previously agreed between him and his direct superior, Major General Roland Kane (Walter Pidgeon), who is at the moment back in Washington D.C. arguing about war strategy and resources with the Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff.
This movie was released a couple of years before Twelve O’clock High, which by now has pretty much eclipsed it from view. Twelve O’clock High, if anyone out there doesn't know, is also about the American bombing campaign against Germany. It too is also about ideas, but is much more of an action movie, featuring real WWII battle footage and gut wrenching drama of aerial combat over Europe. It is still used today as a motivational movie on how to build a well run team, how to motivate individuals, and how a leader can - and should - train his subordinates so that they eventually can work without him.
I’ve had to watch scenes from Twelve O’clock High played for me in various “management training” classes. In that forum, it is good propaganda, which doesn’t mean that it isn’t a great movie, but that it and Command Decision complement each other because they address different organizational problems of war or peace. Command Decision is never shown at management training classes, because it gives a realistic look at the role politics, personality, and personal rivalry play at the upper reaches of any branch of the military, or any large bureaucracy. Civilian bosses certainly don’t what their flunkies to see how they really are making their decisions. Or that those decisions could be loaded with personal or political baggage. Or just made randomly. (Hopefully, this movie may be part of the curriculum at the military academies, or at some of the American war colleges. If it is, I haven’t about it.)
So, exactly how are they making decisions in the “upper reaches” of a 8th Air force, according to the view shown in Command Decision? First, the higher the rank, the more a General officer must be concerned about funding for his branch and promoting the long-term growth of his command. This is not necessarily evil. After all, if the man is honorable – or just plain human, he must believe in what he and his branch are doing for the war effort. Also, it is the way the real world, with it’s limited resources, works. Even in wartime, parochial interests do play a part, and a leader can be torn between his dual roles of “doing his duty” and guaranteeing that he has enough resources to do his duty. Sometimes personal factors, such as concern for casualties among his men play a part. And, unfortunately, sometimes factors such as prestige and personal gain, or protection of one’s own job, filter into his (or her) decision making.
When General Kane returns to England from America, before the series of raids ordered by Dennis is finished, he is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand he still recognizes the importance of the missions. On the other hand he is deeply worried about the impact of high casualties on the long-term allocation of resources in the allied war effort. Kane doesn’t appear to have the guts to accept the high casualties which, rightly or wrongly, General Dennis is willing to accept. The movie makes it perfectly clear that Kane is an honorable man, and a brave one, although he maybe playing in a field just a little bit beyond his level of competence. Certainly, Dennis has a lot of respect for him, at one point even reminding others that General Kane had set various aircraft altitude records in dangerous circumstances during the 1920s.
Adding to the problems between General's Kane and Dennis are the unexpected visit of a delegation of American Congressmen, who have legal, political, and personal stakes in how the war is carried out, and a personal crisis involving the apparent dereliction of duty by one airmen. Another complication is the uncertain ambitions of Brig. General Clifton Garnet (Brian Donlevy), just in from Washington on a “fact-finding” mission. Added into the confusion and drama are the efforts of an American war correspondent (Charles Bickford) with a good nose for important war new. He is trying to figure out whether the high casualties taken so far are justified, or just an unimportant detail in the decision making of overly ambitious and apparently war loving General Dennis.
Instead of showing war footage of Messerschmit 109s attacking American bombers over Germany, most of the drama of this movie comes from the verbal clashes. Clashes between Dennis and Kane. Clashes between Dennis, Kane, Garnet, the war correspondent, and a couple of other characters involved in planning and carrying those long distance raids. And clashes between Dennis and one airman, who regards the attacks as suicide missions for the men who fly, which is close to what they are.
If you want scenes of aerial combat, stick to Twelve O'clock High. If you want to see some of the thinking that resulted in that combat, watch this movie. Note, however, that Command Decision is not without it's own style of military drama. Drama which can not be relieved by the occasional satisfaction of seeing German aircraft shot down. This drama is not just in the griping dialogue during the well-presented arguments between of the characters. It is also in the waiting for reports from the American bombers over Germany, in the counting by those on the ground of the number of returning airplanes - often very few, with all the deaths that implies. And in the sudden angry outbursts, which reveal the stress these high-ranking officers are really under.
All this is done not without humor to lighten the pace. In fact, there are some really funny scenes, which occasionally help to reduce the tension for the audience, if not for the characters in the movie. There are a couple of beautiful scenes, for example, in which Van Johnson, only a Technical Sergeant, is shown to be better at resolving certain military personnel problems than any general. And another where General Dennis’ Intelligence Officer (Ray Collins), an elderly “war only” officer, puts all the professional officers in their place by speaking out loud truths about the real lines of responsibility in the WWII American military.
I can not recommend this movie highly enough. You can find many good WWII movies with all the action you want, and some of them do address important ideas. But, there are not many others that put the ideas first.
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