Command Decision (1948)

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

William R. Laidlaw (screenplay) and
George Froeschel (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

February 1949 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

Heroes, cowards, fighters, braggarts, liars...and what goes on in their hearts!

Plot:

Army generals struggle with the decision to prioritize bombing the German factories producing new jet fighters over the extremely high casualties the mission will cost.

Plot Keywords:

Jet | Germany | Factory | Secrecy | Bomber

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Brigadier General K.C. 'Casey' Dennis
Walter Pidgeon	...	Major General Roland Goodlow Kane
Van Johnson	...	Technical Sergeant Immanuel T. Evans
Brian Donlevy	...	Brigadier General Clifton I. Garnet
Charles Bickford	...	Elmer Brockhurst
John Hodiak	...	Colonel Edward Rayton Martin
Edward Arnold	...	Congressman Arthur Malcolm
Marshall Thompson	...	Captain George Washington Bellpepper Lee
Richard Quine	...	Major George Rockton
Cameron Mitchell	...	Lieutenant Ansel Goldberg
Clinton Sundberg	...	Major Homer V. Prescott
Ray Collins	...	Major Desmond Lansing
Warner Anderson	...	Colonel Earnest Haley
John McIntire	...	Major Belding Davis
Moroni Olsen	...	Congressman Stone
John Ridgely	...	James Carwood
Michael Steele	...	Captain Lucius Malcolm Jenks
Edward Earle	...	Congressman Watson
Mack Williams	...	Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Jackson
James Millican	...	Major Garrett Davenport
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lane Allan	...	(uncredited)
Joel Allen	...	(uncredited)
George Backus	...	(uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
William Cabanne	...	(uncredited)
Bruce Cowling	...	Operations officer (uncredited)
James Dale	...	(uncredited)
Fred Datig Jr.	...	(uncredited)
Bert Davidson	...	(uncredited)
Dennis Dengate	...	(uncredited)
Tay Dunn	...	(uncredited)
Sam Flint	...	Congressman (uncredited)
Don Garner	...	(uncredited)
Don Haggerty	...	Command officer (uncredited)
Henry Hall	...	Congressman (uncredited)
Alvin Hammer	...	Machine shop sergeant (uncredited)
Clarke Hardwicke	...	(uncredited)
Holmes Herbert	...	Chairman (uncredited)
David Holt	...	(uncredited)
James Horne Jr.	...	(uncredited)
Robin Hughes	...	(uncredited)
John James	...	Officer (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	(uncredited)
Marten Lamont	...	RAF officer (uncredited)
William F. Leicester	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Peter Martin	...	Command sergeant (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	(uncredited)
John McGuire	...	(uncredited)
Bill McIvor	...	(uncredited)
George Melford	...	(uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell	...	(uncredited)
Bill Neff	...	(uncredited)
Barry Nelson	...	Cumquat B-Baker crewman (voice) (uncredited)
George Offerman Jr.	...	Waiter (uncredited)
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Jeep driver (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell	...	(uncredited)
Robin Short	...	(uncredited)
J. Lewis Smith	...	(uncredited)
Buddy Swan	...	(uncredited)
William Tannen	...	(uncredited)
Arthur Walsh	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Douglas Walton	...	(uncredited)
Harlan Warde	...	(uncredited)
Wilson Wood	...	(uncredited)
Jimmy Zahner	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Wood

Writing credits
William R. Laidlaw		(screenplay) and
George Froeschel		(screenplay)
William Wister Haines		(play)

Produced by
Sidney Franklin	....	producer
Gottfried Reinhardt	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Miklós Rózsa		(as Miklos Rozsa)

Cinematography by
Harold Rosson

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons
Urie McCleary

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer

Art Department
Jack D. Moore	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Special Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special effects
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Ed Hubbell	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Lloyd Isbell	....	grip (uncredited)
Robert Martin	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Eugene Zador	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Kermit Bloomgarden	....	stage producer
Leslie H. Martinson	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Loew's

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1950) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #13274) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

March Air Force Base, Riverside, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The movie received terrible reviews and flopped at the box office. This was largely blamed on it being too talky and seeming more like a filmed play.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: After the plane General Dennis tried to talk in to a landing crashes, the next scene is an inside shot with the generals discussing allowing staff photographers into a debrief. On the brick wall in the background, the shadow of a boom mic is clearly seen moving in and out of scene for the entire duration.

Quotes:

Congressman Arthur Malcolm: But it seems to me our boys are paying a pretty bloody price for General Dennis' record!
Congressman Stone: Arthur!
Brig. Gen. K.C. 'Casey' Dennis: Arthur, they're paying a price for the country's record.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Clark Gable: Tall, Dark and Handsome (1996)

Under-Appreciated, A Great War-Movie

This is an under-appreciated gem of a move.

To start with, the core story sounds utterly fantastic, but it is partly true. There was never a "Lance-Wulf 190", but there really was a Messerschmidt Me-262 in World War 2. The Me-262 wasn't quite the wonder-plane which the mythical Lance-Wulf was, but it was a swept-wing jet with a top speed of 540 mph, a blinding speed for the time. And, as fighter pilots say, "speed is life".

American bombing in August, 1943 did delay the introduction of the real Me-262. (The pre-production aircraft were wrecked on an assembly line, forcing a delay of several months.) The irony is that the German jet fighter program was really stymied by Hitler's aversion to defensive weapons and the German feeling that the war could be won with existing fighter types.

There is, however, a "message" in this film which fully applies to civilian life. You know that everything is okay just now, but this will soon come to an end. Given those facts, are you willing to take some massive losses now and solve the problem? Or do you just wait for the situation to become visible to everyone before you act?

I don't know how many times I've seen people--even bright ones--opt for the "wait and see" course of action. It never works.

Just as Betty Davis's 1938 film "Jezebel" was overshadowed by "Gone With The Wind", this film was overshadowed by "Twelve O'Clock High".