Twelve O'Clock High is a watchable straight forwardly told World War II drama. Its scope is rather narrow, only telling the story of one man and his assignment and not delving into his life and thoughts outside of that assignment.We could of got to know each of the crew a bit or got to know Savage more or perhaps more detail in the actual dropping of the bombs. I respect the film and what it's about, it just didn't do enough for me. There was too much drama and not enough war and all of it surface level.

Excellent portrayal of the US heavy bomber offensive in Europe in WW2. Gregory Peck is superb as the hard-nosed group commander (but, then, that is a given I guess - I can't think of a less-than-great performance by him).

Placed in charge of bomber unit, a hard-nosed general gradually softens as he realises the devastating mental impact on the soldiers under his command in this World War II drama. Gregory Peck gives a commanding performance as the general in question whose initial stance that "there isn't time" to "ease up" eventually vanishes as he learns more and more about the crippling effects of the near fatal missions on his troops. This is also one of the earliest movies to look at the psychological effects of war on individuals with a bitter irony in how the soldiers who survive their missions are only rewarded with more and more dangerous missions. For a film that wants us to sympathise with lowest ranking soldiers though, we get to know relatively few of them in any depth. Indeed, much of the film is spent on Peck and his subordinate officers debating how to treat their troops. This is not really a big detractor since Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe and others provide solid performances in such roles, but it does feel a little odd that we only get to see one bombing run in detail - and this insight comes relatively late into the film too. If one perceives the film as a character study of Peck's general first and foremost though, it is hard to disagree with the film's approach. Certainly, his character trajectory is easy to predict, but Peck is convincing every step of the way on the road to an eventual near complete change of heart. The film features some excellent audio and visual effects too even if the reliance on stock footage grows a tad irksome.

Another decent American WW2 film which seems to have dropped out of sight over the years, I'd never heard of TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH before I caught it playing on television. I'm glad I watched it because this is a film which has an excellent role for Gregory Peck, one of my favourite actors, playing the tough new general who takes over training members of an American bomber squadron stationed in England.It's a film that looks at the nitty gritty of pilot training and the effects that death and failure can have on the morale of a group. Thus it's not an easy film to watch at times as it goes down some dark psychological alleyways, but the realism and lack of sugar coating is what makes it all the more effective. The supporting cast is fine with Dean Jagger particularly standing out in a difficult role, but it's Peck who holds things together here with a show-stopping turn as one of the coldest yet most human characters seen in a war movie. The ending of the film is moving beyond belief and the authenticity of the thing never flags, with the dog fight scenes utilising real-time war footage to add to the realism of the thing.