This one was probably written to quench the audience thirst during the first James Bond/espionage craze of the mid 60s. It plays more like an episode of 'I Spy' or even 'The Man From UNCLE' than it does a World War II bomber show. (there's a scene where the bad guys where special rings which would be right out of the UNCLE show). There are spies - saboteurs really - causing maintenance problems for Gallagher's aircraft. B-17s are suffering mechanical failures, bombers are falling out of the sky and targets are not being struck. What to do? Well Bomber Command has got to ferret out the Reich's sympathizers at Archbury. This one has enough twists and turns to satisfy the thriller thirst in any fan, and comes across as a good entry in the series, with Gallagher sort of going off and letting people know what he thinks about spy games vs. his duty to pound the Reich in the process. Again, solid performances all around - especially from J.D. Cannon, a Quinn Martin favorite. Gia Scala is both striking in looks and her acting in this one. She doesn't get a chance to shine - being she basically has no lines - in "The Guns of Navarone," but she really had the most lovely of voices and her ability to act off others with facial expressions surprised me. Tragic that her life was blighted and she ended up passing away a few years after this episode was filmed. She would have been a great talent for stage and film.
3 Reviews
A Flawed But Good Episode -- with a central plot apparently based on a well-known Cold War novel
reprtr20 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This second episode of the second season of 12 O'Clock High -- a somewhat retooled version of the series, with Paul Burke succeeding the flintier, older-looking Robert Lansing as the series lead -- has a good enough central plot, though that plot is plainly derived from a literary (and also an early television) source. It also showed off the weakness of the second season, as the producers and the network (ABC), eager to attract female viewers, felt compelled to inject the script with some romantic by-play between Burke's Colonel Gallagher and Gia Scala's Allied Polish espionage operative. Scala is good enough in her role, but one can see the series starting to come off the rails a bit with her scenes with Burke; yes, there had been female co-stars and quasi-romantic subplots involving Lansing's Brigadier General Frank Savage, but they were fewer and further between than they would be in the series' second season.
The rest of the episode is a good, suspenseful story of sabotage and murder taking place at the Archbury airfield where 918th is based, and it's well done. The problem there is that several aspects of this story seem to have been lifted from Pat Frank's 1956 Cold War espionage novel FORBIDDEN AREA, and possibly also from the 1956 Playhouse 90 adaptation (under the same title, authored by Rod Serling) of that story, about Soviet infiltrators conducting sabotage and murder at Strategic Air Command bases. Here the infiltrators are German agents, but even the method of operation in the episode's climactic finale is lifted right out of the television adaptation of Frank's story. Watching this episode for the first time, I first thought my memory was playing tricks on me, but a fresh viewing the Playhouse 90 installment (the series' debut) showed that it wasn't. The episode is still worth watching, but let's give some credit where credit is due, shall we?
The rest of the episode is a good, suspenseful story of sabotage and murder taking place at the Archbury airfield where 918th is based, and it's well done. The problem there is that several aspects of this story seem to have been lifted from Pat Frank's 1956 Cold War espionage novel FORBIDDEN AREA, and possibly also from the 1956 Playhouse 90 adaptation (under the same title, authored by Rod Serling) of that story, about Soviet infiltrators conducting sabotage and murder at Strategic Air Command bases. Here the infiltrators are German agents, but even the method of operation in the episode's climactic finale is lifted right out of the television adaptation of Frank's story. Watching this episode for the first time, I first thought my memory was playing tricks on me, but a fresh viewing the Playhouse 90 installment (the series' debut) showed that it wasn't. The episode is still worth watching, but let's give some credit where credit is due, shall we?
Sabotage?
planktonrules1 September 2021
As a retired history teacher, little details bother me that would most likely not be noticed by other viewers. And, as I watch episodes of "12 O'Clock High", I am constantly annoyed by the clothing and hairstyles of most of the women on the show. They are clearly 1960s in style...and are radically different than hair of the WWII era. "R/X for a Sick Bird" features one of these 1960s style actresses.
In this episodes, a long spate of mechanical problems begin affecting bombers in Colonel Gallagher's group. Eventually, the problem becomes so severe that it could only mean that someone or some group of people are sabotaging the planes. When Gallagher learns this is also happening to other bomber groups, it's obvious the saboteurs are well organized...and this could mean dead crew members or a dead partisan (Gia Scala) that is supposed to be dropped behind enemy lines in an upcoming mission.
While there were problems with sabotage during WWII, most instances were actually against the Axis powers...though folks sabotaging bombers isn't too far outside the realm of possibility. What did seem highly unlikely, however, is using a B-17 bomber at a means to parachute insurgents into enemy territory. Usually a C-47 or C-46 transport plane would do this because they were designed for such things. Still, like the hairstyles, I doubt if most viewers would notice or care.
Overall, worth seeing but nothing brilliant about this one. So sad to see Scala, however, as she lived a very short and tormented life.
In this episodes, a long spate of mechanical problems begin affecting bombers in Colonel Gallagher's group. Eventually, the problem becomes so severe that it could only mean that someone or some group of people are sabotaging the planes. When Gallagher learns this is also happening to other bomber groups, it's obvious the saboteurs are well organized...and this could mean dead crew members or a dead partisan (Gia Scala) that is supposed to be dropped behind enemy lines in an upcoming mission.
While there were problems with sabotage during WWII, most instances were actually against the Axis powers...though folks sabotaging bombers isn't too far outside the realm of possibility. What did seem highly unlikely, however, is using a B-17 bomber at a means to parachute insurgents into enemy territory. Usually a C-47 or C-46 transport plane would do this because they were designed for such things. Still, like the hairstyles, I doubt if most viewers would notice or care.
Overall, worth seeing but nothing brilliant about this one. So sad to see Scala, however, as she lived a very short and tormented life.
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