Shatner's character is portrayed as wound a bit tight because he wants to kill every German and completing the mission is more important than the safety of his crew. The reason is because he left Germany as a child and doesn't like what Germans now represent. He's also fearless and so driven he'd rather bomb cities than military targets. This story line works and has been used in many other war stories. But then they throw in a plot bend where the reason he really feels this way is something that happened to him as a boy - and when asked by the cliched German-now-in-England new girlfriend what happened Shatner replies he can't tell her, and they skip over it. But the realization is Shatner must feel fear and then overcome it to make everything okay....and this last part all happens in the final 5 minutes.
3 Reviews
great series
runtexas23 November 2020
Overall, I like the series 12 o'clock high. I remember when it was first broadcast, they made a point of explaining the show was deliberately shot in black and white because they would be using considerable WWII footage and didn't want to bounce between color and black and white. This particular episode strikes me as Captain Kirk pilots a B-17, he acts exactly as he did on Star Trek. There is one blooper I saw when watching it recently. The US flag on William Shatner's uniform is a 50 star flag! Incorrect for 1943. Paul Burke's uniform has the correct 48 star flag.
Probably not the best fit for this actor
planktonrules7 September 2021
William Shatner is the guest this week and he plays Major Kurt Brown, a man who was born in Germany but left with his family as the Nazis were rising to power. However, he holds no fondness in him for the Germans and his hatred of them is practically rabid. That is why after completing his required 25 missions to go Stateside, he remains in action flying mission after mission. This is a double-edged sword. While it's made him an excellent pilot, he's also joyless and disliked....and is ready to snap. Things do change when he falls for a German woman....and for the first time he sees a reason to survive the war.
While I like William Shatner in many things and think he's a fine actor, with the wrong material and director, he does sometimes have a habit of overacting. Here we have such a case. There's no subtlety and his emotions are reminiscent of a few old "Star Trek" episodes, such as "Turnabout Intruder". As a result, while the idea for the episode is sound, it's not especially good.
While I like William Shatner in many things and think he's a fine actor, with the wrong material and director, he does sometimes have a habit of overacting. Here we have such a case. There's no subtlety and his emotions are reminiscent of a few old "Star Trek" episodes, such as "Turnabout Intruder". As a result, while the idea for the episode is sound, it's not especially good.
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