Above and Beyond (1952)

Directors:

Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

Writers:

Beirne Lay Jr. (story)
Melvin Frank (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 January 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

"You're not the man I married. Not any more. You're ambitious...cold...and heartless!"

Plot:

Story of Col. Paul Tibbetts, the man who piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War 2.

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Nuclear Weapons | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets 509th Composite Group CO (pilot of Enola Gay)
Eleanor Parker	...	Lucey Tibbets
James Whitmore	...	Maj. William 'Bill' Uanna - Security Officer, Operation Silverplate
Larry Keating	...	Maj. Gen. Vernon C. Brent
Larry Gates	...	Capt. William 'Deak' Parsons, USN
Marilyn Erskine	...	Marge Bratton
Stephen Dunne	...	Maj. Harry Bratton, Co-pilot B-29 tests
Robert Burton	...	Gen. Samuel E. Roberts (Tibbets' CO in Africa)
Hayden Rorke	...	Dr. Ramsey
Lawrence Dobkin	...	Dr. Van Dyke (as Larry Dobkin)
Jack Raine	...	Dr. Fiske
Jonathan Cott	...	Capt. Dutch van Kirk (navigator, Enola Gay)
Jeff Richards	...	Maj. Thomas Ferebee (Enola Gay bombardier)
Dick Simmons	...	Capt. Robert A. Lewis (co-pilot, Enola Gay)
John McKee	...	Staff Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenbury, Enola Gay Flight Engineer

Also Known As:

Eagle on His Cap (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The sequences showing the bombing of Hiroshima were lifted from another MGM film, The Beginning or the End (1947), which was about the development and use of the first atomic bombs.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Toward the end the ground crew is seen pushing the atomic bomb over to the Enola Gay's bomb bay for apparent loading then scene cuts. In fact "Little Boy" was so big that it would not fit under a B-29 to load in a conventional manner. A concrete pit was built to lower the bomb into and the Enola Gay was then positioned over the pit to be able to upload the bomb.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980) (TV)

Sensitive portrayal of a serious subject, the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.

This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."

Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.

The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.

I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.

This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.