MovieChat Forums > Twelve O'Clock High (1950) Discussion > Military drama, not an ACTION film

Military drama, not an ACTION film

posted 18 years ago by gebegb
6 replies | jump to latest

Those who fail to rate the film at 90% or higher are probably expecting a different film.

In the NETFIX web site, I checked out who was rating the film low, and why.
Take a look at their "complaints."
(Ratings are best of 5, with five being highest.)

• 2-star = "... I would have shown a great deal more of combat footage."
• 2-star = "... skip to chapter 13 [in DVD, where battle scenes are]."
• 2-star = "... I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of action."

How do you like that?
They just watched a MILITARY DRAMA and was surprised that there wasn't enough ACTION.
Based on that, I guess MISTER ROBERTS and THE CAINE MUTANY would rate pretty low on the ACTION scale. Right?
"M*A*S*H" and "NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS" would be 2-star films, using the ACTION criteria. Right?
But you aren't supposed to use the level of ACTION in judging TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH.
What were they thinking?

[–] elijahbailey 18 years ago

I would also cite Catch-22, in which the Germans never even make an appearance, and are refered to...

Mark*

"How do you feel about women's rights? I like either side of them" - Groucho Marx

[–] rwsmith29456 17 years ago

12'OClock High was so tense and dramatic of one situation after another that I always THOUGHT it was an action movie, but some people think differently, I guess.

[–] TooSlim 17 years ago

That's because alot of people think you always have to show the action and the blood and guts to show the true horror. If you aren't tense and on edge after hearing the reports of the bombing runs in this film, you have NO imagination. As Hitchock proved in his films, you don't have to SHOW everything to get a terrorizing effect. Action and things blowing up with no drama behind it are pointless....

[–] rwsmith29456 17 years ago

TOCH had enough action considering the audience knew in no uncertain terms what was happening up there in the bombers. It didn't have to show every shot to make that point. That's one of the reasons it was a VERY strong movie.

[–] deeveed 16 years ago

This might not be here or there but I think time will affect a true understanding for future viewers of 12'o'clock High perhaps not so much on the leadership end but on the specific things that went on in a "bomber world".
As we lose bomber vets, we also lose those who can best interpret what life was like and the pressures they were under thousands of feet up in those ice-cold skies. I'd think future viewers years on just might not have the ref points to pick up specific details as we do now.

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 16 years ago

Mary Poppins contains more action than TOCH. The only action sequences are those bits of actual combat footage. TOCH is basically a drama.
It reminds me the british movie Angels One Five, a film about the life of RAF pilots during WW2. Very little action is seen on that film as well.