Twelve O'Clock High - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Twelve O'Clock High or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Twelve O'Clock High

[clayton]

The frame story sequence was shot first, then the surrounding high grass at the airfield was mowed for the flying sequences.

[janice]

This film was also used at the Bramshill Police College, Hampshire for the instruction of newly promoted senior officers.

[steve]

Originally planned to be shot in color, the decision was made to shoot in black and white instead to accommodate the use of stock footage.

[janice]

Many of the detailed accounts in the movie are true, and based on the experiences of veterans Bartlett and Lay. The scene where the 918th ignores the radio recall and presses on to bomb the target is true. The 94th BG, based at Bury St. Edmunds, ignored a recall order on their way to Brunswick, Germany, and pressed on to the target alone, their accompanying groups having turned back. The Group commander later said they had fought most of the way to the target, and lost 1/3 of their aircraft at that point. Instead of a reprimand, the 94th Group was given the highest group award, what is now known as the Presidential Unit Citation. The account where the pilot fought the wounded co-pilot's thrashing for hours was also true, and the pilot was awarded a Medal of Honor for saving his crew.

[albert]

Paul Mantz, Hollywood's leading stunt pilot, was paid the then-unprecedented sum of $4,500 to crash-land a B-17 bomber for one early scene in the film. Frank Tallman, Mantz'd partner in Tallmantz Aviation, wrote in his autobiography that, while many B-17s had been landed by one pilot, as far as he knew this flight was the first time that a B-17 ever took off with only one pilot and no other crew; nobody was sure that it could be done. The footage was used again in The War Lover (1962).

[albert]

Opening prologue: "The air battle scenes in this Motion Picture were photographed in ACTUAL COMBAT by members of the United States Air Force and the German Luftwaffe."

[melinda]

A highly unusual film in its day in that it has no musical underscore. Alfred Newman's score can only be heard at the beginning and the end.

[ava]

The only film of 1949 to be Oscar nominated for Best Picture, and not Best Director.

[jeffrey]

While the character of Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Jesse Bishop is shot down and presumed to have been killed in action, the real-life Medal of Honor recipient on whom he was based, Lt. John C. Morgan, survived being shot down and spent the rest of World War II as a POW. After returning to civilian life, he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War.

[fred]

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 7, 1950 with Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Millard Mitchell and John Kellogg reprising their film roles.

[jessie]

During a discussion of weather conditions, the term CAVU is used. This means "Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited (or Unrestricted)".

[ruby]

Film debut of William Bryant (I).

[wallace]

Clark Gable was interested in the lead role.

[jessica]

Locations for creating the bomber airfield at RAF Archbury were scouted by Henry King, flying his own private aircraft some 16,000 miles in February and March 1949. King visited Eglin AFB (FL) on March 8, 1949, and found an ideal location for principal photography several miles north of the main base at its Auxiliary Field #3, better known as Duke Field, where the mock installation with 15 buildings (including a control tower) were constructed to simulate RAF Archbury. The film's technical advisor, Col. John deRussy, was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base (AL) at the time, and suggested Ozark Army Air Field near Daleville (AL), ow known as Cairns Army Airfield, adjacent to Fort Rucker). King chose Cairns as the location for filming B-17 takeoffs and landings, including the B-17 belly-landing sequence, since the light-colored runways at Eglin did not match wartime runways in England, which had been black to make them less visible to enemy aircraft. When the crew arrived at Cairns, it was also considered "ideal for shots of Harvey Stovall reminiscing about his World War II service" since the field was somewhat overgrown.

[tammy]

Writer Sy Bartlett was the first American to drop a bomb over Nazi Germany.

[carl]

The air battles were cut together from authentic World War II footage.

[clayton]

20th Century-Fox's third highest-grossing film of 1949.

[bessie]

Although set in England, most of the film was actually shot in the US. This would explain why the general is driven around in cars that are clearly left-hand drive instead of right=hand drive as they are in the UK.

[addison]

When the brass is monitoring the progress of the ball bearing mission, they hear about the heavy number of German fighters impeding the progress of the mission. Someone then announces that fighters have been ordered to ram bombers in order to stop them. This was an actual tactic used by Germany toward the end of the war, in 1945. They thought the psychological affect would keep bomber pilots from wanting to fly ... it did not have that effect. The way it was supposed to work, the German pilot was to dive or fly head-on toward a bomber, but then bail out just prior to impact ... Not too soon and the plane would veer off and too late the pilot would not live to fly another day. Called "Sonderkommando Elbe" by the Germans, who claim it brought down approx. 24 bombers. At first they used standard fighters, but then later when they introduced their jet, they designed a version with reinforced wings, not to dogfight, but again to ram, slicing thru bomber wings.