BOMBERS B-52 (1957)

This CinemaScope production is Warner Brother's answer to the more successful 1955 release, Strategic Air Command, filmed in Paramount’s VistaVision format. It was superior in cinematography and script authenticity by Bernie Lay, an airman himself who came to the table with first-hand details. Victor Young's opening male ensemble song and dynamic flying score from that film better captured the grandeur of this period. But I digress. Renowned composer, Leonard Rosenman, on the other hand, wrote a soap opera opening theme that goes against the bold, three-dimensional title graphically spelled out on the screen. He does write a dynamic B-52 motif which I address below. Some big bucks were spent here and it shows. The film gets high points for location filming on an active SAC base and the ground camera crew's work is to be applauded. This helps distance itself a bit beyond the B-movie category, along with the draw of Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.―all on career upswings.

The film gets low points for Irving Wallace's soap opera screenplay which I already warned you about. Perhaps because of this, there are some authentic Air Force procedural details that are overlooked. Another low point is an over-the-top performance [once again] by Malden. He can be hard to stomach in this bull-headed, self-centered character. His role as the over-protective father and devoted husband dominates the movie, despite Wood receiving top billing. His quest shot on a popular quiz show he obsesses over and the sequence of an antsy father awaiting Wood's pre-dawn return from a date with Zimbalist is a bit embarrassing. Comedy was never his strong suit, being typically upset even while delivering humorous quips. The scenes where he paces the floor, blowing off steam to his wife, Marsha Hunt, while downing eight cans of beer―between trips to the bathroom―are humorless. 

If you are an aviation enthusiast of this era, the B-52, as was the B-36 in the “SAC” film, will be your highlight and the main reason for remembering the movie. It is a visual aviation history lesson of the USAF's formative years. The takeoffs and flybys are exciting, if not spectacular. The banter between tanker and bomber pilots is fun in one sequence. During a twenty-four-hour flight, Zimbalist's “travelogue” comments and accompanying back screen projected visuals, should have been left on the editing floor. The Boeing bomber's interior mockups appear to be well done.

Rosenman wrote a majestic march-like theme for brass and strings. Though it takes nearly half the film before we see a B-52, the theme, along with an elevated camera position, is all goose-bumpy, casting long, early morning shadows for an impressive debut as its wings spread out over the tarmac. Once the plane is front and center we hear the theme frequently. The theme should have debuted with this sequence. But just prior, it is hilariously misplaced during a sequence of Malden riding a ubiquitous scooter several hundred feet. With the gallant theme blasting away, we expect him to end his ride next to the bomber as it fills the screen. Instead, he simply stops at the base barracks after putt-putting past the base gate. Piloting a scooter is just not very majestic.

While "blowhard dad" is in the base hospital recuperating from a bail-out injury, Wood, sobbing, apologizes for being only nineteen and confesses she is no longer embarrassed by her dad's occupation. Planes are keen. Wood's constant crying is a bit tedious, but she and her father finally have an understanding. We assume Wood will marry, move out of the house and Malden will cut back on the beer volume. Near the end of the film, Wood looks rearward from Zimbalist's T-Bird, finally understanding the point of the eleven-ship B-52 formation roaring overhead. A large formation that would only be performed for a promotional demonstration. Like in this film.

Notes: I have always found the film’s title a bit strange. Not normal wording. As if stating, “Automobiles Ford.” The alternate title used in some outlets, “No Sleep Till Dawn” makes more sense for this flying soap opera. Note the Dell publication promo above, left. The title would have covered the airmen's twenty-four-hour missions and Malden's twenty-four-hour angst over his daughter's behavior. For Paramount’s “Strategic Air Command”―Air Command Strategic―recruitment went up about 25% because of its inspiring screenplay and an endearing performance by James Stewart. I doubt the Air Force got that much of a jump following this movie’s premiere. Who wants to enlist and be supervised by a character like Malden? Most would gladly choose Stewart's flight engineer, Harry Morgan.

Finally, one may need a big dose of suspended disbelief when considering the twenty-year age gap between the real Zimbalist and Wood. Yet it works on-screen if you mentally subtract and add five years, respectively. Zimbalist, in his first major screen debut, and Wood were contracted to Warner Bros. It would have been unlikely to have replaced either. As many film buffs know, Warner's original choice was Tab Hunter. This would have solved the age gap but probably made it implausible to believe he had achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel at such a young age. Given a larger role, maybe the better Wood paring would have been a romance with handsome co-pilot, Stuart Whitman, with only ten years between them. Curious to consider, too, three up-and-coming actresses cutting the age gap by about a decade: Anne Francis, Tippi Hedren, and Elaine Stewart. Either would have eliminated the “stay at home” daughter premise and, in turn, saved us from Malden's clichéd daddy performance.