12 O'Clock High (the film)
 

Anyone at IOT, students or staff, in the 80s may want to reminisce on the Leadership Phase as 12 O'Clock High is on Film4 shortly (followed by Ice Cold in Alex, one my all time favourites

The OH saw 12 O'Clock High far too often at IOT, but I will ask if she wants to see it again!


(EDIT. No she doesn't ;))

MPN - when was OH in DIOT - I was there Nov 82-Mar 84, "B" Sqn

Thanks for that! I shall have them both on the moving wallpaper. I recall meeting Sir John Mills and he told me his anecdote about Ice Cold in Alex.... watch the levels of the beer in the bar scene at the end, seems they used real beer and it took lots of takes...after which they gave up for the day.

12 o clock high was also shown at the RN School of Leadership and Management (at Whale Island) when I was a prisoner there. It is a good film.
Is it authentic? Who was it based upon, if anyone?
I would like to see a modern film made about UK involvement in Iraq or Afghan from the point of the military leaders.

Slight overlap, although a bit earlier (81-83) ... PM to follow once I've checked dates with her. She didn't file her PI's as assiduously as I did ;)

I remember it being shown at The Towers around '68, including the inevitable interruptions every 10 minutes or so for "analysis".
The last 20 minutes, with all the combat footage, was what most of us 99ers were waiting for..........

Apparently the bar scene took seven or eight takes and the director insisted real beer was used for realism. There are some more than amused twinkles in various eyes in that scene, just as there is (to my eye) a hint of resignation in the way JM downs his glass. The trick in that scene, as in Lord Flasheart's dramatic entrance in Blackadder is not to watch the principal actor but to study the rest. Their faces tell a story. Priceless!

US Navy LMET used that as a standard training tool, circa early 1980s when I went through. I wonder if they still do? My junior officers had seen it when I was a department head, but that's 20 years ago.

The Leper Colony
 

Probably one of the best opening scenes ever when Harvey stands on that long abandoned dispersal and the starters wind up. Of course in that very 'non pc world' no-one seems to have complained about the Leper Colony.
I used to love it when it was used as a training exercise as you could wind up the 'trainers' by pointing out the wrong types of Jeep or 109's being called 190's.
Shame more of it not shot in the UK.

12 O'clock High? I just remember some rather loud snoring in Whittle Hall......it woke me up.
Ice Cold In Alex? Only bettered by Lawrence Of Arabia!

Twelve O'clock High was a fictional story (as was the bomb group portrayed), but was loosely based on a real bomb group and commander, with lots of actual incidents rolled into the storyline.
I watched something a while back where they discussed the real people that the movie characters were based on, but I don't recall details.

I believe 12 O'clock High was superseded by the BBC Shackleton (the explorer) programmes

I seem to recall from "A Wing and A Prayer" that Beirne Lay, who co-wrote the novel it was based on flew some missions with the 100th Bomb Group and adapted some of their experiences for the book.

If you haven't read it, A Wing and a Prayer is the memoir of a Navigator from the 100th BG and is bloody brilliant.

Should you be an Eighth Air Force fan the book 'A Fall of Fortresses' written by Elmer Bendiner is worth a read.

This. Just a perfect segue into the past.

"Twelve O'clock High" is one of my favourite WW2 - themed films because of the feeling of authenticity about it, despite some the usual cliches to make it more entertaining to the general public.
It is based on incidents in early 1943 when Col. Frank Armstrong (Frank Savage in the film), one of the 8th AF pioneers, was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned command of the 306 Bomb Group based at Thurleigh (later RAE Bedford).
The 306 BG was going through a rough patch: losses were high, morale was poor and the group had a defeatist attitude. Armstrong's task was to turn it round and the film is basically about how he did this.
It was scripted by Major Sy Bartlett who had worked with Armstrong in England and was involved in script-writing for Hollywood and Col Bierne Lay, one of the original 8th AF staff officers in England.

Polecat

Since we have drifted a bit into recalling books written by US crew based in England in WWII, I must add one of the greatest, "Serenade to the Big Bird"
by Bert Stiles. Most impressive account I have come across about these amazing young men during a momentous period.

I was told that Apollo 13 replaced 12 o'clock High at Cranditz.

A good film, I seem to recall watching it on a Saturday morning prior to a lunchtime stack and heading for London to drink beer and get laid. made a nice change to the usual DIOT BS. The combat footage was real. I bought it on DVD for a quid. haven't watched it since IOT though.

As for Ice Cold - I defy anyone to watch that and not want a cold one. It was one of the first examples of product placement in a movie before it came commonplace. Look for 'Carlsberg' on the beer glasses!

Especially, as at the time it was supposed to happen, the Carlsberg brewery was occupied by the Germans.