StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Alistair Olson
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
jacobs-greenwood
Directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, who also wrote the screenplay, this historical drama was adapted from Beirne Lay Jr.'s story, for which Lay Jr. received a Best Writing, Motion Picture Story Academy Award nomination; Hugo Friedhofer's Score was also nominated.Similar to The Beginning or the End (1947), this film tells the story behind the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II. However, instead of the focus being on the development of the bomb itself, this one is told from the perspective of the Air Force Colonel in charge of the mission which executed the task itself.Robert Taylor plays Colonel Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber which flew the mission and delivered the payload. Eleanor Parker plays Tibbets's wife Lucy, and much of the story focuses on the affect this mission had on Tibbets and his family.The film begins by giving some historical background on Tibbets, who as a Lieutenant Colonel during the early years of World War II was flying bombing missions in North Africa under General Roberts (Robert Burton). Visiting General Brent (Larry Keating) witnesses an outburst by Tibbets that bordered on insubordination, but decides on the spot that Tibbets is just what he needs for shaking out the bugs in the B-29, a plane thought to be a deathtrap. These events comprise the first 30 minutes or so of the picture.Later, Brent has another mission, a top secret one, for Tibbets. After testing Tibbets's ability to "pull the trigger" to release a bomb that would kill 100,000 people in order to end the war and possibly save five times that many lives, and a thorough security check by Major Uanna (James Whitmore), Brent offers Tibbets the job of assembling the team to drop the first atomic bomb. Appropriately, the General warns Tibbets that if his decision is "yes", there is no going back.Later, the General will similarly tell Tibbets that it is his sole responsibility to "blue light" the mission. Even though Tibbets accepts, Brent is unable to promote him to full (bird) Colonel because of his earlier conflict with Roberts. Later, Roberts will become a temporary barrier to some transports Tibbets needs to fulfill for his mission, dubbed Silverplate. Uanna is assigned as Tibbets's security officer, but otherwise it is up to the Lieutenant Colonel to staff, outfit and plan the entire operation with utmost secrecy. This includes keeping his wife Lucy in the dark, which obviously puts a considerable strain on their 5 years marriage, only seven weeks of which they'd spent together anyway per the war.A couple of other characters used to tell the story and detail the strain under which Tibbets was placed, or self-imposed, are the Brattons: Major Bratton (Stephen Dunne) is a friend and co-pilot of Tibbets, his wife Marge (Marilyn Erskine) is the closed thing to a confidant that Lucy has. Larry Gate plays the significant role of Captain Parsons, the man who arms the atomic bomb during the flight to Hiroshima. Most will recognize two television actors, Haydon Rorke (I Dream of Jeannie) as Dr. Ramsey, a scientist, and Jim Backus (Gilligan's Island) as General LeMay, in command of the flight's launching point, Tinian Island - both appear briefly.The emphasis of the story is on the life of Tibbets, and the impact on his wife and family, during this time period; Whitmore's character plays the important role of confidant for Tibbets, given the fact that he can't explain his actions to Lucy.Unfortunately, it's a bit too much "soap opera" (perfect for actress Parker, not so for much for actor Taylor) and the film could have been much shorter - as it is, it exceeds 2 hours by a few minutes.Still it's a solid retelling of historical events, though I don't claim to know how accurate it is. There are several (obviously) Hollywood fictionalized bits, one which involves Lucy getting an important scientist-technician to fix the plumbing in her kitchen.Another is a convenient plot device (a new bottle of perfume) which ties things together. Plus, though everyone should know that Hiroshima was indeed "successfully" bombed, I don't really know if the subsequent status of the Tibbets' marriage was per this film's ending.
PudgyPandaMan
This film chronicles the life and career of Paul Tibbets, who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Far from getting heavy into the ethics or justification of that event, it mainly looks at the personal life of the man involved in this controversial bombing.There is one scene early on when one of his commanders is trying to decide if Tibbets is right for the job. He asked him if he could end the war tomorrow and save half a million American lives and others but would have to kill 100,000 people in the process, could he do it. He hands him a buzzer, and asks is he could push it. Tibbits pushes it. And thus he is chosen to head the mission.They go into a great deal of time in chronicling the relationship with his wife and the strain his "secret" mission put on the marriage. So it was interesting to see if from this personal perspective.But overall I found it a simplistic approach to a very difficult topic. The film was made in 1952 and the country was still very much pro-war in regards to WWII. To be certain if the film were made today, it would look VERY different by the liberals in today's Hollywood.Mucxh of the film is told from the viewpoint of Tibbets wife, played by Eleanor Parker. She in fact narrates much of the film to add necessary details. I suppose this tactic was used to make the viewer more sympathetic and forgiving of a difficult subject - and kept them from delving too deeply into the controversy.There is one attempt at the end when, after the bombing makes news and Tibbets is revealed as commander, a reporter asks him what he felt personally about dropping the bomb. He doesn't want to comment, but when the reporter pushes with a "but my readers WANT to know!", he turns the question back to the reporter. He says "How do THEY feel about it?"Don't look to this film for any in depth answers to difficult questions. But if you enjoy seeing the personal side of the story to those involved, then this is a well made film with an adequate cast.
tyrianacacia
This movie is the best production of the first A-bomb attack. Though Hollywood produce another shortly after the war and despite the cast, Brian Donlevy, as General Groves, and Robert Walker it was highly fictional.My late uncle served with Colonel Tibbits in the 509th and he said that Robert Taylor captured the colonel exactly. James Witmore is very effective as the security officer whose task is as difficult as Taylor's. The film captures the enormity of the task of developing the A-Bomb in almost total secrecy from the public and the enemy.The grimness of this is clearly shown throughout the movie. There is very little flag-waving in this picture and one does not fail to realize that the bombing was necessary to prevent a greater loss of life if the Japanese homeland was invaded.
Slim-4
This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.
