CIFF Student Classic Film: “Twelve O’Clock High”

“Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won’t be so tough,” thus speaks Gregory Peck as Brigadier General Frank Savage to the men of 918th Bomb Group in 12 O’Clock High, the definitive dramatic film account of the American strategic bombing campaign in Europe during WWII.

The CIFF Student Classic Film Series continues with director Henry King’s 1949 classic, 12 O’Clock High. Starring Best Actor Oscar nominee Gregory Peck and featuring a Best Supporting Actor Oscar winning performance by Dean Jagger, 12 O’Clock High is significant as the first Hollywood feature after the war that took up the challenge of realistically showing the terrors of air combat. Before its release, few Americans understood the mental and emotional toll the strategic bombing campaign levied upon the aircrew who flew the missions and the enormous psychological burdens leadership imposed upon the men guiding their heroic efforts.

Based on the novel by co-authors Beirne Lay, Jr., and Sy Bartlett, 12 O’Clock High is the fictionalized account of their own experiences as Army Air Force officers in one of the first B-17 units sent to England to conduct an entirely new approach to air warfare. While still finishing their novel, the authors pitched 12 O’Clock High to Hollywood movie studios. Twentieth Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck bought their story in 1948 for $100,000, a princely sum at the time. The use of actual footage taken by Allied and Luftwaffe aerial combat cameras lends unprecedented wartime authenticity to a film seldom equaled in the history of motion pictures. The film rightly earned the praise of those whose heroic exploits it recounts. 12 O’Clock High is a must-see to understand the history of American air warfare and the extraordinary challenges of leading aviators and airmen in combat. It stands alone as the only motion picture ever used concurrently for leadership training in both military officer programs and the Harvard Business School.

The complete 2025 Student Classic schedule and reservations are available on the CIFF Website under the “Year-Round” dropdown tab. All Student Classic Film screenings are free.