Review of Twelve O'Clock High

I live and work in Cambridge,England,a major city in the East Anglian heartland of the United States Eighth Air Force's campaign to free Europe from the yoke of fascism in the second world war.At the present time when it is deeply unfashionable in the U.K. to express admiration for anything or anybody from America unless it is that appallingly self-serving multi-millionaire Michael Moore it should not be forgotten that the country so many of our so-called "opinion makers" coruscate so regularly sacrificed many many of its young men in the frozen skies over Germany in order to ensure that 65 years on we are free to criticise it to our hearts content - indeed in the case of the BBC get handsomely paid for doing so. From time to time-although,sadly,increasingly rarely as the years pass-I see groups of elderly men,often wearing windcheaters or old flying jackets,walking slowly but determinedly past King's College towards "The Eagle",a town centre pub much favoured by aircrew during World War 2.These men,of an age group so often the target for disrespect and abuse in this country,are the rapidly dwindling survivors of the Mighty Eighth.Their tormentors neither know nor care that if it was not for them and many others like them they would in all probability be speaking German or Russian,depending on which of those two former allies ended up lording it over Europe.The English language would certainly have been "verboten" or speaking it a "Niet - niet". After Pearl Harbour very few young Americans felt the European War had much to do with them.It had already been going on for over two years and Europe was notoriously unstable even in peacetime.The Pacific War,now that was a matter of national pride,why not let the English take care of the Nazis?But still these brave men set off for a cold damp impoverished country half a world away and flew across some of the most heavily-defended parts of Europe in broad daylight,a task the RAF had found far too dangerous day after day,suffering huge losses to be swindled in shops and laughed at in the country pubs.Their story deserves to be told and in "Twelve o'clock high" it is told magnificently. Nobody goes out and shoots down 6 Messerschmidts before breakfast,there are no idiots flying their planes under bridges,silk scarves trailing in the slipstream,bombing was a dirty,dangerous business and the men who flew the bombers were deadly serious about their business. With frightening casualty rates it was essential to maintain morale at the airbases,get the reputation as an "Unlucky" squadron and it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The responsibility for improving and maintaining morale rested on the shoulders of the C.O.In this case General Savage(Mr Gregory Peck). An early proponent of "Zero Tolerance",Mr Peck believes that slackness and indiscipline in small areas begets slackness and indiscipline on a larger scale.This brings him in conflict with many of his junior officers.The daily struggle to maintain morale,inject discipline and continuously send other men to their deaths gradually takes its toll on General Savage and he eventually breaks down under the strain. That,reductio ad absurdam,is the story of "Twelve o'clock High". But then,as somebody once said,"Hamlet" is just a story about a man who cannot make up his mind. I have seen this film many times.On one memorable occasion the BBC showed it during the Miners' Strike of 1974 with its attendant power cuts and the electricity was turned off just as General Savage was being introduced to his new flyers.I cursed Joe Gormley and all his works for weeks afterwards. Many of those young men who never made the trip home are remembered at the American War Cemetery at Madingley just outside Cambridge.If you go there and see a small group of old men standing rigidly to attention,their caps off,whisps of hair blowing in the cold Fenland wind,please spare them a silent prayer.