S1.E23

The Trap

Episode aired Mar 5, 1965
1h

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A pilot's worst nightmare - buried underground with no guarantee of ever seeing the open sky again. Gen. Savage and a group of Londoners are trapped in a cellar during an air raid, while the... Read allA pilot's worst nightmare - buried underground with no guarantee of ever seeing the open sky again. Gen. Savage and a group of Londoners are trapped in a cellar during an air raid, while the only man who knows they are there is wounded and incoherent. Savage has to deal with an e... Read allA pilot's worst nightmare - buried underground with no guarantee of ever seeing the open sky again. Gen. Savage and a group of Londoners are trapped in a cellar during an air raid, while the only man who knows they are there is wounded and incoherent. Savage has to deal with an elderly widow facing true fear for the first time, a young coal miner with a phobia about b... Read all

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IMDb RATING

8.2/10

YOUR RATING

2User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
In this episode, 1.23 "The Trap", John Leyton's character has a phobia about being buried alive. Two years earlier, in the movie "The Great Escape", he played the best friend of Charles Bronson's character. The two of them do the brunt of digging the escape tunnel. After the tunnel is complete Bronson's character confesses that he is afraid to go through the tunnel because he has claustrophobia and fears he might freak out and jeopardize the whole plan. Leyton reassures him that he'll be with him the whole way and talks him into going. They make it all the way through, despite a minor "cave-in", and end up as two of the few prisoners who actually make it to freedom.

User reviews2

Review

Featured review

7/10

Good...but claustrophobic

As my wife watched "The Trap" with me, she made an observation that really is true. So far, the best episodes of "12 O'Clock High" usually focus on the B-17s and their bombing missions....and so "The Trap", while good, isn't among the best episodes. After all, the show IS supposed to be about strategic bombing.

Early in the episode, General Savage is in London when there is a bombing raid. The nearest shelter is filled so he and a few others take shelter in a nearby basement. Unfortunately, one of them (not Savage) is pregnant and about to give birth and the 'doctor' among them has a dark secret. What's next? See the episode.

The episode does manage to be entertaining and cleverly written...albeit a bit claustrophobic. Worth seeing but not a great episode due to its setting.