328 TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH
full cooperation after vetting the script. Principal photography took place from late
April to early July 1949. Though color would have been preferred, the film was
shot in black and white to allow for the inclusion of actual air combat footage.Plot Summary
Twelve O’Clock High focuses on the “hard luck” 918th Bomb Group stationed at
Archbury in the En glish midlands. With the lowest bombing effectiveness, most
aborted missions, and highest loss rates in the Eighth Air Force, the 918th suffers
from abysmally low morale. Brigadier General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck), the
tough- as- nails operations officer for General Pritchard (Millard Mitchell), head of
Bomber Command, identifies the prob lem as emanating from the group’s com-
mander, Col. Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill), an other wise “first- rate” command-
ing officer who has come to over identify with his men, fostering lax discipline
and a group culture of self- pity. Accompanied by Savage, Pritchard visits Archbury,
relieves the popu lar Davenport of command, and replaces him with Savage.
A “by- the- book” disciplinarian— almost to the point of being a martinet— SavageIn a scene from Twelve O’Clock High (1949), Brig. Gen. Frank Savage (Gregory Peck,
right) suffers a stress- induced ner vous breakdown as (from left) Capt. Twombley
(Lawrence Dobkin), Maj. “Doc” Kaiser (Paul Stewart), Maj. Harvey Stovall (Dean Jagger),
and Col. Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill) look on. (Twentieth Century Fox/Photofest)