Command Decision (film)

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For the Elizabeth Moon novel, Command Decision, refer to Vatta's War.
Command Decision

DVD cover
Directed by Sam Wood
Produced by Sidney Franklin
Gottfried Reinhardt
Written by William Wister Haines (play)
George Froeschel
William Laidlaw
Starring Clark Gable
Walter Pidgeon
Van Johnson
Brian Donlevy
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Harold Rosson
Editing by Harold F. Kress
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) 23 December, 1948(premiere)
February 1949 (wide)
Running time 112 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3,700,000 (est.)
IMDb profile

Command Decision was a 1948 war film starring Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson and Brian Donlevy and directed by Sam Wood, based on a stage play of the same name written by William Wister Haines, which he based on his best-selling novel. The screenplay for the film was written by George Froeschel and William Laidlaw. Haines' play ran on Broadway for almost a year beginning in October 1947.[1]


Contents

[edit] Plot

Major General Roland Goodlow Kane (Walter Pidgeon) of the U.S. Army Air Corps is concerned over the heavy losses of planes and men being incurred by Brigadier General K. C. "Casey" Dennis (Clark Gable) who commands the American Bombardment Division in England. In order to knock out German factories making critical war materiél, including parts for jet planes, Casey has sent his flights deep into Germany, past the point where they can be protected by fighter planes, and the resulting losses have reached record numbers. Kane is worried that a visiting congressional committee will cut funding to the Air Corps, which he has spent a lifetime building up. Casey has to defend his actions while dealing with Kane, the committee, an insubordinate pilot who happens to be the nephew of one of the congressman, a snooping war correspondant, a visit from Brigadier General Clifton I. Garnet (Brian Donlevy) – who scuttlebutt has it is there to relieve him of command – and the death of his close friend, and Garnet's brother-in-law, Colonel Edward "Ted" Rayton Martin (John Hodiak). Through the chaos, his office is kept running smoothly by his clerk, Technical Sergeant Immanuel T. Evans {Van Johnson).

[edit] Production

MGM to bought the rights to William Wister Haines' 1947 novel Command Decision at the behest of Clark Gable, who saw in it a starring role for himself. MGM paid a $100,000 down payment, which would esclate to $300,000 if the novel were stages as a play by October 1947. In the event, the play opened on Broadway on October 1st of that year.[2].

Before filming began, Robert Taylor and Tom Drake had been expected to play roles in the film.[2] Command Decision was in production from 13 April to 23 June 1948.[3] Location shooting took place at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California,[4]

The premiere took place in Los Angeles on 25 December 1948, and the film went into general release in February 1949.[5] The premiere in Washington D.C., which took place sometime in February, was attended by Vice President Alben W. Barkley, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, the Air Force Chief of Staff and other dignitaries.[2]

[edit] Cast


Cast notes

  • Clark Gable joined the Army Air Corps during World War II shortly after the tragic death of his wife Carole Lombard in a plane crash. He was promoted from lieutenant to major and flew five combat bombing missions, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.[6]
  • Cameron Mitchell, who plays bombardier Lt. Goldberg, was a bombardier during World War II.
  • Barry Nelson provided the uncredited radio of voice of a Cumquat B-Baker crewman
  • On the basis of his stage performance as Technical Sergeant Evans in the Broadway production of Command Decision, James Whitmore was contracted to MGM, however Van Johnson played his role in the film. Whitmore would make his mark in another MGM World War II film released just a year later, Battleground, which also starred Van Johnson.

[edit] Response

Command Decision was not successful at the box office, but it was named as one of the ten best films of 1948 by the New York Times and by Film Daily.[7] Still, there were other reactions: in August 1949, the Los Angeles Times reported that a syndicated British film reviewer had called the film as ""insult to British audiences" and said that it gave the audience the idea that American precision bombing had won the war.[2]

The film did not receive any awards, but writers William Laidlaw and George Froeschel were nominated for two Writers Guild Awards, for "Best Written American Drama" and the Robert Meltzer Award for the "Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene".[8]

On 3 March 1949, Clark Gable recorded a radio version of Command Decision for the NBC radio network, the first pre-recorded commercial show to be broadcast over the network from Hollywood.

[edit] DVD Release

Command Decision was released on DVD on June 5, 2007 in the United States.

[edit] References

Van Johnson and Brian Donlevy inCommand Decision (1948)
Van Johnson and Brian Donlevy in
Command Decision (1948)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ IBDB Command Decision
  2. ^ a b c d TCM Notes
  3. ^ IMDB Business data
  4. ^ IMDB Filming locations
  5. ^ IMDB Release dates
  6. ^ Scott McGee "Command Decision" (TCM article)
  7. ^ All Movie Awards
  8. ^ IMDB [1]

[edit] Bibliography

Haines, William Wister. Command Decision: Five great classic stories of World War II. Dodd, Mead, 1980. ISBN 978-0396078739

[edit] External links