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Powerful

I'll tell you why so serious

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Sound: Great sound effects editing. I did not like the way the theme song got used in the score, very weak, not developed enough. 70/100 Technical: Well done but with some minor problems, like bad background extra acting and some of the takes with the German actors were tinged with some bilingual confusion. 70/100 Narrative: Standard narrative of the first 24 hours of D-Day from many points of view; military, civilian, ally, enemy, fighting men, and support units. 90/100 Acting/Character: Excellent use of an ensemble cast. We feel for the soldiers and their comrades. 90/100 Did I like it: Yes, all of the merging story lines mixed with the humor and anti-war tone made it very enjoyable. 100/100 Artistic merit: I compare this film to Saving Private Ryan in subject and scale. Very few war films portray the different points of view in a battle. 80/100 Total score 83.3/100

Copyright 4 October 1962 by Darryl F. Zanuck Productions. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Warner Theater: 4 October 1962. U.S. release: 4 October 1962. U.K. release: 20 October 1963 (sic). 16,200 feet. 180 minutes.SYNOPSIS: D-Day, 6 June 1944.NOTES: Negative cost: $10.2 million, making it the most expensive black-and-white movie ever made by a commercial film studio. With an initial domestic rentals gross of $17.6 million, "The Longest Day" was second only to Fox's own "Cleopatra" at the U.S./Canadian box-office for 1963. Although it was not generally released in the U.K. until late October 1963, "The Longest Day" took more money at U.K. ticket- windows than any other movies in 1963 except "Cleopatra", "How the West Was Won" and "Lawrence of Arabia". Oddly, though the movie was well-liked, it did absolutely nothing like this sort of business in Australia. In fact, receipts barely covered the cost of a massive advertising blitz.Won two prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Black-and white Cinematography. (Through some indefensible miscarriage of justice, the award was given only to Bourgoin and Wottitz). And Best Special Effects, defeating "Mutiny on the Bounty". (Only Robert MacDonald and sound mixer Jacques Maumont shared the award. The official reason for this is that by Special Effects, the Academy means only Special Visual, namely Photographic Effects and Sound Effects. Dissolves, super-impositions, mattes, glass shots, irises, double exposures, process screen work and the like are all covered, but not necessarily miniatures, tank shots and definitely not explosions, stunts and choreographed action sequences. In actual practice, however, the lines of demarcation are somewhat blurred. Many Hollywood studios including M-G-M made a practice of nominating all the heads of their special effects departments, including miniatures. Other studios like Fox, RKO and Paramount included only camera personnel. So whether you received one of those prestigious Hollywood awards for your miniatures and painted backgrounds depended to some extent at which studio you worked at).Also nominated for prestigious Hollywood awards for Best Picture (won by "Lawrence of Arabia"); Black-and-white Art Direction (won by "To Kill a Mockingbird"); Film Editing (won by "Lawrence of Arabia").Best English-language Movie Release of 1962 — National Board of Review. 4th Best Motion Picture of 1962 — Film Daily poll of American film critics. Best Screenplay — The Film Daily. Best Direction — The Film Daily. Best Photography — The Film Daily. Tied with Lawrence of Arabia for Best Film of 1962 — The New York Daily Mirror. Number 2 on the N.Y. Daily News list and also on the Filmfacts composite list.COMMENT: Although not listed at all in the official credits, Gerd Oswald directed some of the most effective episodes, including the searingly unforgettable sequence with Red Buttons. Zanuck himself directed the interior ship-board, plane-board and barracks-board scenes, while Elmo Williams handled most of the battle footage, and Wicki did a lot of memorable German work including of course that stunning D-Day bombardment scene with Hans Christian Blech. Though the story structure is necessarily episodic, the film retains our firm interest, partly because of the inventiveness of the writing, particularly its sharply realistic dialogue and colorful characterization; partly because of the movie's spectacular scope and breadth, plus all the stunningly-staged action; and partly because of the constant star-spotting. So far as actual acting goes, I thought the German players creamed the rest. Wayne and Mitchum are wholly their usual selves, but it's good to see Richard Todd in uniform again. Burton, however, is moodily dull, even with Donald Houston along to stooge him his cues.OTHER VIEWS: The producer's actual battlefield experience is amply reflected in all phases of The Longest Day, for never before had Zanuck been so intimately involved in the making of any of his pictures. He worked with the writers, Ryan, James Jones and Romain Gary; spent long night hours planning camera angles and positions; talked "strategy" with the army and the navy; conferred with directors, sound men, special effects technicians, prop men and accountants. Even so, he was present, day after day, in good weather and foul. - Fox publicity.

A largely historically accurate account of D-Day, one of the most important single days of the 20th Century, this is a thrilling and engrossing epic war film of a kind which is sadly not made anymore. Based on the 1959 book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan, it is a stirring tribute to the resourcefulness and bravery of the Allied strategists and combatants who ensured that Operation Overlord was a success. While it only covers the events leading up to the invasion and those of June 6, 1944 itself as to opposed to the rest of the campaign, there is a sense of "a lot done, more to do" as the film draws to a close. The film may be over but the war certainly isn't.The film benefits from a very strong script and is extremely well directed by all concerned in both the quieter character scenes and the wonderfully shot battle scenes. In spite of its multiple directors, the tone of the film is very consistent and, had I not known already from my previous viewing, I would assumed that there had only been one director. The fact that all of the German and French characters speak their own languages rather than English also gives the film a great sense of authenticity. The film is extremely well paced and there was not a minute where I was bored. On the Allied side, D-Day was chiefly depicted from the British and American perspectives but I did like that there was an acknowledgement of some of the other forces involved such as the Canadians, the Free French and the Free Polish. Still, they could have done more with it.There is a terrific sense of tension in the early scenes in which the Allied Forces are waiting to receive the word from General Eisenhower to launch the invasion in spite of the worst weather in the English Channel in 20 years. Eventually, it is decided to give the order as the conditions were unlikely to improve any time soon. There was talk of Eisenhower playing himself in the film but it was decided that he looked too old. The same was true of David Niven. I can't say that I'd really have cared in either case! The prelude to the invasion is also examined from the German perspective with Field Marshals Erwin Rommel and Gerd von Rundstedt, played very well by Werner Hinz and Paul Hartmann respectively, being dismissive of the prospects of invasion due to the poor weather conditions and are consequently caught unawares when it does come. On the German side, the strongest response to the invasion comes from Generals Max Pemsel and Günther Blumentritt, both of whom served as consultants on the film as did Frau Rommel, among others. They were also lucky enough to be played by the two best German actors in the film: Wolfgang Preiss and Curd Jürgens. Preiss later played von Rundstedt himself in "A Bridge Too Far", incidentally.The film has a very big cast which reads like a "Who's Who" of 1960s male film stars and almost all of them get a chance to shine. Richard Burton has a great cameo as the RAF pilot David Campbell, distraught at the death of the only other remaining member of his squadron from the Battle of Britain. He later turns up towards the end of the film after being shot down the previous night. Richard Beymer plays a cocky young private named Dutch Schultz who wins $2,500 gambling as he is waiting to be deployed. However, he has the reality of the situation brought home when he receives rosary beads from his mother. Cast against type, Red Buttons is excellent as Private John Steele, who was trapped on the church tower of Sainte-Mère-Église after his parachute became caught. Robert Mitchum has one of the more substantial roles in terms of screen time as General Norman Cota and gives a great performance as a general who cares about all of the men under his command. Henry Fonda, my favourite actor in the film, has a smaller role as General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., who lead his troops onto Utah Beach in spite of his severe arthritis and died of a heart attack the following month. Jeffrey Hunter is very good as Sgt. (later Lt.) John H. Fuller, who does not survive the day sadly.At 55, John Wayne, who probably had the biggest role overall, was twice as old as his character Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort was on D-Day but he is nevertheless more suited to the role than he was to that of Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror", the last film that I saw him in. He was certainly not a very good actor but he had a likable screen presence in most of his films and this one was no different. That said, the anguish on his face when he sees the bodies of parachutists who were shot down while attempting to land in Sainte-Mère-Église was the best acting that I have ever seen from him. In a case of art imitating life, D-Day veteran Richard Todd plays his erstwhile superior officer Major John Howard and took part in the assault on Pegasus Bridge as he did in reality. Other than those actors that I have already mentioned, I was impressed by Richard Münch as General Ernst Marcks (who turned 53 on D-Day but did not have a great birthday), Eddie Albert, Sal Mineo, Hans Christian Blech, Peter van Eyck, Roddy McDowall, Mel Ferrer, Rod Steiger, Edmond O'Brien, Kenneth More, Peter Lawford, Sean Connery, Robert Wagner, Georges Wilson, André Bourvil and Irina Demick, who has the best role of any woman in the film as the French Resistance member Janine Boitard.Overall, this is an excellent war film which was deservedly nominated for Best Picture. It may not be on quite the same level as its companion piece "A Bridge Too Far" but it's not far behind either.

I hadn't got around to watching THE LONGEST DAY before now; I knew little about it, other than it featured an all-star cast and was about the D-Day landings. Having just watched it, I've been blown away by what I consider to be one of the most confident, assured, WW2 films I've ever seen.THE LONGEST DAY is to D-Day what TORA! TORA! TORA! is to the Pearl Harbour attack. It covers the build-up and events of the day in minute detail in such a way that it never feels slow or overlong; indeed, there's so much going on here that this lengthy production requires the viewer's attention throughout. No time for nodding off as you'll be lost otherwise! The all-star cast makes it a highly attractive proposition as a film, but really this movie would have worked just as well with an unknown cast, as it's so well written; exciting where it should be, tragic in places, and unexpectedly funny in others. Watching John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and the rest of the familiar faces wading their way through one of the most important days in 20th century history is a sheer delight. Needless to say this blows Spielberg's mawkish SAVING PRIVATE RYAN clean out of the water.