Command Decision (1948) on Netflix
In 1943 England, Brigadier General Casey Dennis orders Eighth Air Force crews to bomb the German factories building jet fighters. His superiors question the cost in casualties.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on Prime
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.3/102,292 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1943 the English Ministry of Information hosts the daily bombing briefings, which correspondents Elmer Brockhurst and James Carwood attend. The RAF reports light losses, while the Eighth Air Force's public relations officer reports record casualties, and Carwood asks whether any target justifies the cost. Brockhurst travels to Brigadier General Casey Dennis's headquarters, watches B-17s take off, and questions Technical Sergeant Immanuel T. Evans about the arrest of Captain Jenks without result. Three problems press on Dennis: Major General Roland Kane arrives with Brigadier General Clifton Garnet, who knew Dennis at West Point and is Colonel Ted Martin's brother-in-law, and Garnet pleads for missions with lower losses; a congressional committee is coming; and Dennis wants to bomb the German factories that build jet fighters.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Command Decision (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Clark Gable, who plays Brigadier-General Casey Dennis, flew five combat bombing missions from England in B-17s as a waist gunner during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Cameron Mitchell, who plays bombardier Lt. Goldberg, was also a bombardier during the war.
- Seven of the film's cast, among them Clark Gable, Van Johnson and Walter Pidgeon, reprised their roles in a 30-minute radio version of Command Decision for NBC's Screen Guild Theater on March 3, 1949; it was the first pre-recorded commercial show broadcast over the network from Hollywood.
- James Whitmore was signed by MGM after his stage performance as Technical Sergeant Evans in the Broadway production of Command Decision, but Van Johnson played the part in the film.
- The film's only location sequence, in which Dennis sees Martin off at his bomber, was shot at San Fernando Valley Airport in Van Nuys, California, because two privately owned B-17s were available.
- Director Sam Wood shot all the scenes from a "relentlessly ground level" to handle the limits of filming a stage play, using master shots and single-camera group shots so the actors could keep the choreography of the theatrical production.
