Command Decision
starring: Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford
directed by: Sam Wood
directed by: Sam Wood
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Product Description:
Movie DVD
Amazon.com:
Command Decision (1949) takes on the kind of questions that Hollywood could never have raised during the war--questions about the cruel responsibilities of command, including the responsibility to spend a great many lives to save thousands more in the future. In 1943, from an American airbase in the English countryside, a campaign of daylight bombardment is being waged against aircraft factories in Germany. For much of the way to their targets and back, the bombers are bereft of fighter escort and at the mercy of the Luftwaffe. The mortality rate is shocking--but perhaps, for reasons that are not widely known, necessary. Clark Gable (himself an air war veteran) plays the commandant who has to call the next day's target, and the film never leaves command HQ; the closest we get to combat is a scene of an untrained crewman trying to land a crippled plane. Command Decision is earnest but outshone by the similarly focused Twelve O'Clock High. The main problem is that it's based on--and essentially remains--a play, static in setting and schematic in its arguments. Still, those arguments should be heard. --Richard T. Jameson
Movie DVD
Amazon.com:
Command Decision (1949) takes on the kind of questions that Hollywood could never have raised during the war--questions about the cruel responsibilities of command, including the responsibility to spend a great many lives to save thousands more in the future. In 1943, from an American airbase in the English countryside, a campaign of daylight bombardment is being waged against aircraft factories in Germany. For much of the way to their targets and back, the bombers are bereft of fighter escort and at the mercy of the Luftwaffe. The mortality rate is shocking--but perhaps, for reasons that are not widely known, necessary. Clark Gable (himself an air war veteran) plays the commandant who has to call the next day's target, and the film never leaves command HQ; the closest we get to combat is a scene of an untrained crewman trying to land a crippled plane. Command Decision is earnest but outshone by the similarly focused Twelve O'Clock High. The main problem is that it's based on--and essentially remains--a play, static in setting and schematic in its arguments. Still, those arguments should be heard. --Richard T. Jameson
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Great Film for Military History Buffs
This is a great movie about Command of a military unit in time of war. It highlights the difficult decisions a commander has to make. It is well acted and should be viewed by all current military commanders and those who wish to command.
Rating: 
- Disappointed
I have always liked this movie for its intensity and historic value.The acting is first-rate.It is an excellent study on the heavy responsibility of command.Unfortunately this version has several minutes cut out of it.I saw it recently on Turner Classic Movies and those minutes were included in their version.
Rating: - Command Decision
One of the earliest attempts to show the politics and terrible strain on a leader's conscience as America debates the effectiveness of daylight bombing.Great dialogue, made more intense by Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, and Brian Donleavy.Not much in the way of plane shots.....I suggest Twelve O'Clock High for more of that, and we do not see the leaders crack as they do in Twelve O'Clock High.Not much in the way of extras.
Rating: - Superb
Gable's best postwar effort. Gripping war film with superb supporting cast.
Neal Robertson
Rating: - similar to 12 o'Clock High
Good movie if you like the older post WWII movies, especially if you liked 12 O'Clock high. Clark Gable is very good in this one.
- Great Film for Military History BuffsThis is a great movie about Command of a military unit in time of war. It highlights the difficult decisions a commander has to make. It is well acted and should be viewed by all current military commanders and those who wish to command.
- DisappointedI have always liked this movie for its intensity and historic value.The acting is first-rate.It is an excellent study on the heavy responsibility of command.Unfortunately this version has several minutes cut out of it.I saw it recently on Turner Classic Movies and those minutes were included in their version.
- Command DecisionOne of the earliest attempts to show the politics and terrible strain on a leader's conscience as America debates the effectiveness of daylight bombing.Great dialogue, made more intense by Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, and Brian Donleavy.Not much in the way of plane shots.....I suggest Twelve O'Clock High for more of that, and we do not see the leaders crack as they do in Twelve O'Clock High.Not much in the way of extras.
- SuperbGable's best postwar effort. Gripping war film with superb supporting cast.
Neal Robertson
- similar to 12 o'Clock HighGood movie if you like the older post WWII movies, especially if you liked 12 O'Clock high. Clark Gable is very good in this one.
