THE LONGEST DAY Movie Review

1962 Bernhard Wicki, Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Darryl F. Zanuck, Gerd Oswald

Despite its claims to authenticity, Darryl Zanuck's D-Day epic really owes as much to Hollywood's bloated biblical pictures as it does the war films of the 1940s and ‘50s. It has the same “all-star” cast, elephantine structure, stilted dialogue and pretensions to high seriousness. With five directors and five writers at work behind the cameras, the finished product is decidedly mixed, with a few battle sequences that are absolutely remarkable.

Following the structure of Cornelius Ryan's best-seller, the film attempts to show the first 24 hours of D-Day as it was experienced by several of the participants, from generals to grunts to civilians. Actually, the events begin on the evening before the invasion and are followed through to the next afternoon. In the first half, much attention is focused on the weather, as the troops—American, British, and French—are poised on board their boats and ships, waiting for the rain to stop. In the key scene when Gen. Eisenhower (David Grace) makes the decision to go, the importance of time is stressed by enhancing the ticking of a clock. Such simple devices are used throughout.

On the other side of the channel, the German generals, who know the invasion is imminent, see the same nasty weather and decide to take some time off for war games. French Resistance fighters receive their coded instructions from BBC radio and step up their sabotage activities. Both groups speak in their native language over clear, easy to read subtitles. Much of the early going is also devoted to some of the Allies’ more unorthodox ideas, the kinds of things that make more sense cinematically than militarily: the use of metal clickers by paratroopers for identification, parachuting rubber dummies loaded with firecrackers behind German lines to sow confusion.

To their credit, the filmmakers do an excellent job of keeping the various plotlines straight despite the sheer number of them. Because so much is going on, few members of the famous cast are given enough time or material to register. Only Richard Beymer as Pvt. Schultz, who is separated from his unit in the first hours of the invasion and never really understands what's going on; Richard Burton as the fatalistic Flight Officer Campbell; Red Buttons as Pvt. Steele, who parachutes onto a church; and Hans Christian Blech as Maj. Pluskat, the first German officer to realize what is happening, make much of an impression.

American stars playing high-ranking officers have weak roles. As Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Henry Fonda limps ashore and promptly disappears. In charge of the bloody assault on Omaha Beach, Brig. Gen. Cota (Robert Mitchum) mostly chomps on his cold cigar and waves the troops onward. As Lt. Col. Vandervoort, John Wayne is almost a parody of the military roles that he played in the 1940s, a blustering bully who scowls and yells. All too often, they and the other characters recite self-important dialogue that comments on the momentous importance of what they are doing and sounds like it came out of a bad history text.

The film reaches its peak when the two sides in the battle are finally engaged. A long aerial shot from the point of view of a German pilot strafing Normandy Beach reveals just how much effort went into the recreation of the invasion. It pales in comparison to the French commando attack on Ouistreham. One unbelievably complex crane shot (or is it done with a helicopter?) lasts for a minute and a half.

Today it is difficult to watch the invasion scenes and not compare them to the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but that really is unfair. Zanuck's film is very much a product of its time. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, with some justification, the American military and entertainment establishments thought of themselves as the saviors of the world. The Longest Day is the high water mark of their self-confidence.

Cast: John Wayne (Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort), Richard Burton (Flight Officer David Campbell), Red Buttons (Pvt. John Steele), Robert Mitchum (Brig. Gen. Norman Cota), Henry Fonda (Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt), Robert Ryan (Brig. Gen. James Gavin), Paul Anka (U.S. Ranger), Mel Ferrer (Maj. Gen. Robert Haines), Edmond O'Brien (Gen. Raymond Barton), Fabian (U.S. Ranger), Sean Connery (Pvt. Flanagan), Roddy McDowall (Pvt. Morris), Arletty (Mme. Barrault), Curt Jurgens (Maj. Gen. Gunther Blumentritt), Rod Steiger (Destroyer Commander), Jean-Louis Barrault (Fr. Roulland), Peter Lawford (Lord Lovat), Robert Wagner (U.S. Ranger), Sal Mineo (Pvt. Martini), Leo Genn (Gen. Parker), Richard Beymer (Pvt. Dutch Schultz), Jeffrey Hunter (Sgt./Lt. Fuller), Stuart Whitman (Lt. Sheen), Eddie Albert (Col. Tom Newton), Tom Tryon (Lt. Wilson), Alexander Knox (Maj. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith), Ray Danton (Capt. Frank), Kenneth More (Capt. Colin Maud), Richard Todd (Maj. John Howard), Gert Frobe (Sgt. Kaffeklatsch), Christopher Lee, Hans-Christian Blech (Maj. Pluskat), Werner Hinz (Field Marshal Erwin Rommel), David Grace (Gen. Dwight Eisenhower); Written by: James Jones, David Pursall, Jack Seddon, Romain Gary, Cornelius Ryan; Cinematography by: Jean Bourgoin, Pierre Levent, Henri Persin, Walter Wottitz; Music by: Maurice Jarre. Producer: 20th Century-Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, Elmo Williams. Awards: Academy Awards ‘62: Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Special Effects; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘62: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (B & W), Best Film Editing, Best Picture. Budget: 10M. Running Time: 179 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox.