Political expedience clashes with strategic necessity in the skies over Europe and the results ain't pretty. Although talky and with poorly integrated actual wartime footage, MGM attempts some distasteful truths about war and largely succeeds. Clark Gable, perfectly cast and photographed to great advantage here, plays Brigadier General 'Casey' Dennis who recognises the crucial importance of initiating and completing an air operation to destroy the three factories involved in producing German jet fighters which will be vastly superior to allied aircraft. He also recognises the weather will dictate he move swiftly if the opportunity is not to be lost. He also recognises the breathtaking losses his aircrews are likely to suffer. He will be resolute. Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown. Yet the steep price will be a hard sell to a politically sensitive general staff and especially to his immediate superior Major General Kane (Walter Pidgeon) as it will open the entire allied air effort to increased scrutiny, criticism and second-guessing by the wartime press in the person of war correspondent Elmer Brockhurst (Charles Bickford). Gable sets his magnificent jaw and goes forward with the operation on his own authority knowing there will likely be an unpleasant reckoning later but for now, let's bomb those stinkin' jet factories! The script is competently written, presenting a complex of issues plausibly and yet...and yet...somehow the entire thing seems premeditated, too many set pieces, too many speeches, the dialogue sometimes crackles but is sometimes too pat, the humor too broad, the sentiment bordering on the maudlin. Being from a play (by William Wister Haines), the predictable effect is of a well-oiled precision machine, humming along noiselessly. With some subjects this is not a problem, a murder mystery perhaps, or a drawing room comedy but here, in the crucible of war, the consequence is a loss of dramatic tension, a loss of spontaneity. People under extraordinary pressure just don't talk like this, certainly not people surrounded by circumstances over which they have little or no control. MGM being genetically predisposed to great lighting, a rousing score and happy endings, one can feel Louis B. Mayer's hand on this production picking his way through a veritable minefield of depressing images and tragic outcomes. But the underlying source material does present an intelligent rumination on the claustrophobic alternatives faced by military commanders throughout history. Frequently compared to the superior Twelve O'Clock High. Still worth your time.
Review of Command Decision
