About one-fourth of the way through watching Command Decision I remarked to Margaret that the movie was obviously based on the script for a play, only slightly re-written for the cinema. I pointed out that there were few sets in the movie, that individual scenes were often shot from a fixed camera angle, and that there was a lot of careful choreographing of the multiple characters in the camera’s view. Margaret responded that "It obviously was based on a play or a book, because it was about ideas.” I shut up and sat back to watch the rest of the movie in silence.
Command Decision is about ideas and it is based on a play. It examines high level decision making in the American WWII 8th Air Force during the early period of the American strategic bombing campaign, when fighter cover was not available for bombing raids over Germany. The movie’s primary star is Clark Gable, but is very much a group effort, dependent on a wonderful cast in supporting roles, including Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford, and John Hodiak. The ideas lead to professional and person ambitions and sacrifice at the highest level, without ignoring the fact that high level decisions lead to anonymous men dying in combat.
