Very disappointing...

Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the negative reviews

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Consider this movie one of the greats in the realm of WWII films.Draws you right into some huge decisions that had to be made in the European theater in WWII and the difficulties encountered while forming our own air force.Well acted too, especially for a 1948 movie. Not to slam acting in old movies, it was often more 'wooden'. Not in this movie though.There's a discourse among the brass where Walter Pigeon had a large piece of dialog. His delivery was electrifying, had me on the edge of my seat. It's not often dialog can grip you like that.Character development is also at play, where time is taken to identify many types of people and troops, from the heroic to the playboy to the conscientious to the cowardly.The use of a "situation room" proved pivotal in keeping us focused on the war goals, helps the story along from a historical sense.Not only were command decisions explored, but the personal decisions were touched on, where you get to glimpse the human behind the command bravado. Excellent.The use of wartime footage was brief yet appropriate. This is a film about people and decisions, and any further focus on 'action' would detract in my opinion.Wartime perils, where and how our brave men had to die, for the larger goal. This is a view into the commanders who have been through what they're now asking the troops to go through. They understand what they are asking of the crews, and the crews respect them because of it.There's also a study on transfer of command, fascinating. These were reasonable men who knew what had to be done and had the will to give the orders, to make the command decisions that needed to be made. Excellent piece of WWII film making, highly recommended.

Regardless of this movie's flaws, there cannot be too much tribute heaped upon the conduct of the men of United States Army 8th Air Force in World War II. This movie does an excellent job of depicting the personal cost of following one's personal convictions in a very harrowing time. Gable does an excellent job a commander under tremendous pressure. In 1943, the 8th was still without long range fighter escort capability, and the danger on deep penetration strikes was horrific. The mission life expectancy of air crew was measured in single digits. It was a shame "Memphis Belle" was turned into a Hollywood-O-Rama version, because the real version of the first bomber crew to survive 25 missions unscathed is sufficient. The losses incurred in trying to knock out the German ball bearing industry over Schweinfurt in October, 1943 very nearly ended daylight bombardment. The fact that even in the face of such opposition, no 8th Air Force mission was ever turned back by enemy action, is an amazing chapter in the annals of war. To me the movie's finest moment comes when Donlevy as General Garnett, who has relieved Gable as the Division Commander, orders the same strike that Gable was going to, against Fendelhorst. Just before he gave that order, Gable gave Donlevy perhaps the finest advice ever found in a war movie. In reference to his men, when he tells him to make sure not one of their lives is wasted.

Brig. General K.C. "Casey" Dennis, played by Clark Cable, is faced with a seemingly impossible task. Establish Daylight Precision Bombing by the 8th Air Force in the skies over Germany and France to make a significant impact on shortening the war by destroying Germany's ability to produce arms. The problem is that heavy losses of planes and aircrews are threatening to put an end to his mission. Gable agonizes over these losses of men and planes, and is under constant pressure by his superior, Gen. Kane, played by Walter Pidgeon, to limit his losses while making the strategy work. Gable's performance is excellent. He plays Gen. Casey as man driven by what he must do, with an iron will and seeming coldness, and yet underneath it all, he shows a very human side of a man tormented by the thought of the men he orders to their deaths every day, including men of which he is personally fond. The movie is very well supported by actors like Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Edward Arnold as the Congressman critical of Dennis' command, and other great actors of the period like Charles Bickford and John Hodiak. Dennis' description of how Hitler conquered Europe with the air power of the Luftwaffe is one of the most well-written and tersely delivered speeches in the movie. It is one of Gable's finest performances, supported by an all-star cast. It is also historically accurate, portraying the desperate need of the Allies to bomb factories deep inside Germany that are trying to mass produce the first jet fighter in modern air combat, the Messerschmitt Me 262. This movie shows all of the human conflict of war without battle scenes or special effects. It is a moving tribute to the men who fought in the air war over Europe in World War 2.

Command Decision was adapted from a Broadway play that ran for 409 performances the previous year. Tony Awards were won by Paul Kelly who played General K.C. Dennis and James Whitmore for Tech Sergeant Emanuel Evans. The play shows the process of making military decisions when you have to factor in the politicians who control the purse strings. It's a necessary evil in a society that values civilian control of the military.Both during and after World War II there was a debate among the British and American air commanders over the value of daylight versus nighttime bombing attacks. The British did night raids over Germany, responding in kind to what the Luftwaffe had done to them. Fly over at high altitudes and just drop the bombs. It did make for fewer casualties among the RAF pilots of their Lancaster bombers.The Americans opted for daylight raids at a lower altitude trying to hit certain strategic objectives. In Command Decision it involves three factories that intelligence has learned are manufacturing new jet aircraft. If the Nazis had ever developed the far advanced jets against the Allied propeller aircraft in any number, the course of the war over Europe might have changed. Just like the V-2 rockets were developed too late to help the Axis cause.Command Decision has Clark Gable leading a distinguished cast as the general who has to make the decision about whether to bomb or not, to go into Germany's heartland without fighter escort. Unfortunately his purely military outlook is not shared by his immediate superior Walter Pidgeon who has to factor in the politicians in Congress who read the dispatches by correspondents like Charles Bickford here about the appalling losses in American life. In many ways Pidgeon has the most difficult part in the film. He has to take in the voices of objection raised by the visiting Congressional delegation led by Edward Arnold. Pidgeon is a politician, but purely by necessity. We admire Gable's stand on principle, but the audience also respects Pidgeon and sympathizes with him.On Broadway Command Decision takes place in the headquarters and to make it better for the screen, playwright William Wister Haines wrote an additional scene that Paul Kelly did not do on Broadway. Clark Gable on a radio microphone tries to talk down a bombardier who is piloting a plane where the pilot and co-pilot are wounded and killed. It's a harrowing scene and one of the best Clark Gable ever did. Gable must have drawn from his World War II experience, he was a tailgunner in our Army Air Corps and flew many a B-17 mission over Germany.Rounding out a distinguished group of MGM contractees are Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Marshall Thompson, Cameron Mitchell, Warner Anderson, Ray Collins, John McIntire and John Hodiak. They all cast well as Army Air Force personnel. Johnson plays the part that James Whitmore originated on stage and provides what little humor there is in this film.The main criticism of Command Decision has always been that it is too stagey. But I found it an absorbing account of the decision making process in a military command.