Frank Lovejoy

Thinking that his fighting days are over, Robert "Dutch" Holland (James Stewart) had become a successful third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, only to be recalled into the newly-formed Strategic Air Command. Set in 1955, when the Cold War is rapidly heating up, SAC has been formed to provide the ultimate deterrent to World War III. By building up a powerful force of nuclear-armed bombers and keeping them on a war-ready status at all times, SAC's leader, Gen. Hawkes (Frank Lovejoy) hopes to keep the "enemy" from starting another devastating conflict. Unfortunately, he is forced to recall reserve pilots and crew from their private lives in order to fill his needs. Holland, promoted to Lt. Colonel, grudgingly accepts the assignment, along with some other equally unhappy airmen, many of whom are old acquaintances from bomber missions flown over Tokyo in 1945. Holland's wife Sally (June Allyson) is less than pleased with the turn their life has taken, and isn't happy about her husband being sent out on dangerous missions when there isn't even a war going on. Also, she soon discovers that she's pregnant, and though she tries to support her husband's efforts to do his job, Holland is soon torn between his sense of duty to his men and country, and his responsibilities to his wife and family. Holland flies missions in the massive B-36 "Peacemaker" bomber, a plane that can take off from its base in Texas and fly non-stop to Alaska and back while carrying a crew of a dozen men and more destructive power than a thousand WW-2 bombers. Over the next few months, Holland helps form SAC into a tightly run, well oiled machine, but it means long stretches away from Sally; she's come to dread the sound of the phone ringing, fearing it will be terrible news about Dutch. Holland is flying a cold-weather test mission over Greenland at -40 degrees when his plane's fuel tank seals fail, and the fuel sloshing around in the left wing starts a fire. Nothing they can do will extinguish it, and Holland orders the crew to bail out. Realizing he's too low to bail out himself, he rides the big plane down to a belly landing on the snow, and spends days trapped in the plane's wreck before rescue arrives. Meanwhile, Sally has given birth, and is overjoyed to hear that her husband is alive with only a twisted shoulder for an injury. Returning to duty, Holland is shown the newest addition to SAC's inventory: the futuristic B-47 Stratojet, a sleek, swept-wing jet plane that looks like nothing Dutch has ever seen before. Gen. Hawkes wants Col. Holland to head up the new Stratojet bomber force, but Sally has different plans. Wrangling an opportunity from Dutch's old boss with the Cardinals that she knows he will take, he can finally leave the Air Force behind. Joyfully presenting this to Dutch that night, she is dismayed to see that he has been thinking about his duty to SAC, and has decided to stay. He tries to explain his reasons, his belief that he's doing something far more important than he's ever done, his desire to serve his country and protect his family by staving off war, but Sally is heartbroken, and Dutch must leave on yet another mission. Still bothered by his shoulder injury, Holland leads a massive deployment of the entire wing to Japan, a tremendous undertaking designed leave no doubt in an enemy's mind about what SAC can accomplish. It will also stretch SAC to its limits, and push everyone to the breaking point. Sally tries to speak to her husband one last time before he takes off, but she's too late. Flying non-stop to their base in Japan, Dutch keeps track of all his planes and people, and manages to get everyone there safely, but when it's his turn to land the field is socked in with fog, and Dutch can barely move his right arm. With the help of his co-pilot, he manages a hair-raising blind landing, and collapses from exhaustion. Grounded by his shoulder, Gen. Hawkes is finally forced to release Holland from the Air Force. But before he leaves, he tells Dutch just how much good he has done for SAC. The example he set for his men, staying in even when he had every reason to leave, has done more good for the force than he can imagine. Sally is overjoyed that she's got her husband back at last, and Holland leaves, knowing he has done his duty.

In Pittsburgh, PA, an F.B.I. agent works to undermine the Communist party, but his brothers and his teenage son think he's a real Red. The FBI infiltrates one of their agents, Matt Cvetic, into the US Communist Party. This causes big problems in the normal life of the agent. Nobody knows, including his family, that he is in fact working to expose a large-scale plan to have Communists in key positions in industry and unions. —Luis Carvacho <lcarvach@lascar.puc.cl> Beyond his mother who provides her unconditional love, Pittsburgh steel factory manager Matt Cvetic is hated by his family, including his son Dick Cvetic, and his old friends because of rumors that he is a member of the Communist Party, which he does admit to most who directly ask. They are unaware, however, of how deep he is ensconced within the party, he who, in his position as manager, is to place card carrying members into the company, so that it eventually can be taken over by the party. What only a handful of people know is that he is undercover, planted by the FBI nine years ago to learn as much as he can about the workings of the party within the US. The Communist Party is ramping up their activities in Pittsburgh and place Matt in a position of authority locally, which may provide him greater access to the party goings-on, but also places him under a microscope by the party, anyone who could secretly be spying on him. This job places him under greater strain, especially in wanting to tell those important in his life of his true work, that work which may never come to light as the FBI cannot expose his true workings if he does unilaterally decide to quit. Things get even more complicated with the arrival on the scene of Eve Merrick, Dick's teacher who comes out to him as a card carrying member of the party, an idealist who has a different perspective on his life than the party brass. —Huggo

Dixon "Dix" Steele (Humphrey Bogart) is a talented but violence-prone and washed up screenwriter. Needing money, he reluctantly takes the job of adapting a trashy novel for the screen. Knowing that this is obviously below him, instead of reading the thing he instead asks a naive, celebrity-obsessed girl (who has read the book) he meets at a restaurant to give him a synopsis, which she does enthusiastically. He sends her home with cab money and is abruptly woken up at 5:00 the next morning by a police officer; the girl was found murdered, and Dix was the last person to see her alive. Given his violent past and what appears to be apathy towards her death, he is the most logical suspect until his beautiful neighbor Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) gives him an alibi (though the audience is never quite sure if she is telling the truth or lies because of her attraction to Dix). There is an undeniable connection between Laurel and Dix, and despite her guarded demeanor and his deep internal demons, the two fall madly in love and for a while they enjoy the happiest time of their lives. Meanwhile, the murder investigation continues and Dix is still the most likely suspect. This puts immense strain on their relationship. The pressure on him is mounting, and as he begins to become increasingly impatient and irritable, this makes her back away from him. Sensing this, he is so frightened he'll lose Laurel, he clings ever more tightly to her, which appears controlling and frightens her. After hearing she didn't tell him about going down to the police station to answer more questions, he storms off and almost kills an innocent bystander, and is only stopped by Laurel's plea. After that incident, Laurel begins to truly doubt Dix's innocence. Dix senses this and from the strain of the accusation, the novel and his fears of losing Laurel, his violence has started up again. In addition, his controlling ways continue to increase from his desperation as she pulls further and further away from him emotionally. Though she loves Dix, Laurel fears for her life and plans to leave him. When Dix finds out, he flies into a rage and nearly strangles the woman he loves; the only thing that stops him is a ringing telephone which confirms his innocence. However, he walks away anything but a free man, having lost forever the one person who he truly loved, who truly loved him, and could've made him happy enough to help him deal with his violent nature.