Daily Archives: May 28, 2015

Twelve O’Clock High
Directed by Henry King
Written by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. from their novel
1949/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box]General Frank Savage:  I’ve been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don’t believe in hard luck. So we’re going to find out what the trouble is…. I can tell you now one reason I think you’ve been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You’ve been looking at a lot of air lately… and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you’re sorry for yourselves. I don’t have a lot of patience with this, “What are we fighting for?” stuff. We’re in a war, a shooting war. We’ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I’m not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won’t be so tough.[/box]

This is less a war story than a psychological study of one way to motivate men and its cost.  I thought it was excellent.

The story is told in flashback from the point of view of Harvey Stovall, who had been a major on desk duty with a bomber group flying out of England doing daylight bombing runs.  As the flashback begins, the group has been suffering heavy losses.   Their beloved commander Col. Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill) is cracking under the strain.  It turns out that the group is suffering above average losses.  The brass is concerned that this will jeopardize funding for the daylight bombing program.

Gen. Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) is sent over to analyze the problem.  He concludes that  Davenport is suffering from “over-identification with his men.” He is selected to take over and correct the situation.  Although Davenport advises him to ease up on the number of missions flown, Savage decides to take a hard line.  He dresses down Air Exec Lt. Col. Gately (Hugh Marlow) for shirking his duty and assigns him to pilot a crew to be made up of all the screw-ups in the group.  He then makes the speech quoted above and challenges the men to quit if they don’t agree.

Soon Savage has a mass resignation of pilots on his hands.  Stovall agrees to hold up the paperwork seeking reassignment long enough for Savage to show results.  This brings a team of inspectors down on Savage’s neck but by then he has succeeded in instilling some pride in the group.

Although morale does improve under Savage’s command, his steely facade begins to crack when losses mount during the group’s first mission over Germany.

I thought this was just about perfect for what it was.  The acting is fantastic and the story is really interesting.  I love the scene where Hugh Marlowe gets injured and Gregory Peck sort of pretends to not be visiting him in the hospital.

I wonder if they ever show this movie to business executives as a model for improving team performance?  Savage’s way was harsh but you could see how it might work.  Recommended.

Twelve O’Clock High won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Jagger) and Best Sound, Recording.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture and Best Actor (Peck).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOGl_7a2nWU

Clip – Straight talk

The Quiet Duel
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Senkichi Tanaguchi, and Kazuo Kikuta
1949/USA
Daiei Motion Picture Company, Daiei Studios, Film Art Association
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Dr. Konosuke Fujisaki: If he had been happy, he might have become just a snob.[/box]

Toshiro Mifune, in an early restrained performance, is just excellent as a doctor with a conscience that is eating him up.

The exhausted Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki (Mifune) is doing surgery in a dimly lit operating room during the war.  He removes a glove to get a better grip and then accidentally cuts himself with a scalpel.  He learns the next day that his patient is ill.  Tests later confirm that the patient has syphilis and has passed it on to his surgeon.

Segue to post-war Tokyo where Kyoji and his father Konosuke, an OB/GYN run a clinic and hospital.  Kyoshi has thrown himself into caring for the poor.  The practice has taken in unwed mother-to-be Noriko as a probationary nurse.  She mightily resents the doctors for refusing to give her an abortion.

Kyoji has announced to his fiancee of six years that he cannot marry her.  He refuses to tell her why leaving her understandably heartbroken.  Kyoji knows that she would willingly wait another five years for him to finish his treatment if he told her.  He cannot bear to see her give up her childbearing years for his sake.

In the meantime, Kyoji runs into the man that infected him.  He has returned to his wife. who is now expecting a baby.  The man has none of the scruples that are making Kyoji suffer so much.

This is still early Kurosawa, with some pretty heavy-handed rain and transition shots and a lot of melodrama.  It is no masterpiece but I still really enjoyed it for Mifune’s performance. He gets to let loose toward the end but is quite subtle for most of the movie.  I loved a little moment where he and Shimura, as his father, awkwardly fumble with lighters not being able to decide in the moment which will light the other’s cigarette.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAAx-eElNdc

Clip – not often you get to see Mifune in despair