High-ranking officers struggle with the decision to prioritize bombing German factories producing new jet fighters over the extremely high casualties the mission will cost.
Acting
Gable's exhaustion is the whole performance
Direction
Wood makes conference rooms claustrophobic
Writing
Dialogue that weaponizes military euphemisms
Director
Sam Wood
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
Col. Edward Rayton Martin
Edward Arnold
Congressman Arthur Malcolm
Marshall Thompson
Capt. George Washington Bellpepper Lee
Richard Quine
Maj. George Rockton
Cameron Mitchell
Lt. Ansel Goldberg
Clinton Sundberg
Maj. Homer V. Prescott
Ray Collins
Maj. Desmond Lansing
Warner Anderson
Col. Earnest Haley
John McIntire
Maj. Belding Davis
Moroni Olsen
Congressman Stone
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the Berlin Airlift, this was Hollywood's awkward attempt to rehabilitate bombing campaigns just as the public questioned their morality. The timing isn't subtle — it's sweating.
Gable insisted on wearing his actual WWII service ribbons, including the Distinguished Flying Cross he earned as a combat cameraman. The man lived this guilt.
US
