The Longest Day Review

Whenever and wherever this invasion may come, gentlemen... I shall destroy the enemy there, at the water's edge. Believe me, gentlemen, the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive. For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day... The longest day. - Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, The Longest Day

Although it premiered 45 years ago (as of this writing) and seems a bit dated now, Darryl F. Zanuck's The Longest Day remains one of the best Hollywood depictions of a World War II battle ever filmed.  It also was, until Steven Spielberg filmed his 1993 Holocaust classic Schindler's List, the most expensive black-and-white film in U.S. movie history, with a budget of $10,000,000.00 and starring - along with several thousand extras, mostly NATO troops on maneuvers in the Mediterranean - 42 international stars, including Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens, Arletty, and John Wayne.

Based on the international best-seller by Cornelius Ryan (who helped adapt his book), The Longest Day is a stirring account of the invasion of German-occupied Normandy by an Allied assault force which included 5,000 ships, 11,000 planes, 13,000 paratroopers, and the vanguard of a host which eventually would top off at 3,000,000 men.  And although it celebrates - like its 1959 literary source - a victory by American, British, and French troops, it also examines D-Day from the perspective of the Germans who defended such places as Pegasus Bridge, Ste. Mere-Eglise, Pointe Du Hoc, and "Bloody Omaha" Beach.

To pull this off, Zanuck and producer/coordinator of battle sequences Elmo Williams hired three directors (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernard Wicki) to shoot the British, American, and German sequences, with Zanuck serving as a sort of uncredited overall director.   Zanuck also chose to film The Longest Day in black and white, partly because it looked more aesthetically pleasing than in color, but mostly because it would give the movie a semi-documentary feel and a more "you are there" feeling to the viewer.

 Assets: Although its very nature as a "general audiences" film mandates that The Longest Day limits its realism factor considerably, Zanuck's final movie is still an earnest attempt to tell a factual account of the various phases of the initial airborne and amphibious assault code-named Operation Overlord.  It tries to mimic the book's "multiple point of view" episodic narrative, although much of the first act necessarily compresses the events that lead up to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's (Henry Grace) decision to go on June 6, 1944 after bad weather had postponed the landing once already.

It also - bravely, I think - was the first popular war film to have the various nationalities appear on-screen speaking their respective languages, with subtitles appearing whenever German or French participants spoke.  This still gives the 1962 film a touch of realism that was emulated in such subsequent "war epics" as Battle of Britain, Tora! Tora! Tora! and A Bridge Too Far, the latter being an unofficial sequel of sorts since it, too, was based on a book by Cornelius Ryan.

The all-star cast, too, is one of the reasons The Longest Day works so well.  It's an eclectic mix of established stars of the period, headed by John Wayne, the era's most popular male actor and an All-American icon, foreign thespians (Wolfgang Büttner, Irina Demick, Sean Connery, Christian Marquand) and teen idols (Tom Tryon, Tommy Sands, Robert Wagner, and Paul Anka, who also wrote the film's memorable theme song).  True, the episodic structure doesn't give the cast too many "acting" moments, but everyone performs naturally, even when given a few cheesy-sounding speeches to deliver.

3 million men penned up on this island all over England in staging areas like this. We're on the threshold of the most crucial day of our times. 3 million men out there, keyed up, just waiting for that big step-off. We aren't exactly alone.

Liabilities: Because The Longest Day is primarily a film made to entertain, it does take some liberties with historical accuracy.  Some of them are understandable; I seriously doubt that 1962 audiences could have tolerated a Saving Private Ryan-like depiction of the landings had they been technically possible at the time.  There are, of course, a few chilling moments that still creep me out, such as a hapless paratrooper who falls into a burning building and explodes (in a fakey, 1962 kind of way) and an equally luckless 'trooper who falls into a well during the night drops.  But the violence of the landings, especially on Omaha Beach, is (necessarily) muted and, to viewers used to Band of Brothers and the aforementioned Savng Private Ryan, somewhat unimpressive.

Other details that to veterans of D-Day seem rather unrealistic are depictions of U.S. paratroopers shooting down at the Germans while dropping down from their planes via parachute, or the disembarking GIs and Tommies cheering as they hit the beaches.  I don't mind those much myself, but it's yet another reminder that Hollywood auteurs do change things drastically for dramatic effect when they go "from real to reel."

The one goof that does bug me as a viewer is perhaps a bit trivial to others, but I'll point it out anyway.  When Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort (Wayne) and his U.S. 82nd Airborne battalion are about to reach their drop zones in Normandy, the exterior shots of their transport planes depict them as British Lancaster bombers.  Actually, most of the Allied airborne forces not aboard gliders were carried by C-47 Dakotas, including the British paratroopers.

Final Thoughts:  Even though it was made in 1962 and it shows in various ways, The Longest Day is still the only film to attempt a fair, balanced account of the D-Day landings from various points of view, and is considered to be among the best war movies ever made.  It sometimes has its "Oh, brother!" moments and sacrifices some realism for dramatic necessity, but Zanuck's last project for 20th Century Fox remains a true classic of its genre and deserves to be watched and re-watched.

2006 Cinema Classics Edition:

Runtime:178 Minutes

Label: 20th Century Fox

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date:  May 23, 2006

DVD Format: 2-Disc Keep Case, Widescreen Anamorphic, 2.35:1, Closed Captioned, Black and White

DVD Features: Subtitles: English, Spanish, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 4.0, Audio Track 2: English, Dolby Digital 2.1 Surround, Audio Track 3: French, Dolby Digital 1.0, Audio Track 4: Spanish, Dolby Digital 1.0

Supplements: Disc 1: Feature Film Commentary by director Ken Annakin

Commentary by historian Mary Corey

Disc 2: "A Day To Remember" featurette

"Longest Day: A Salute to Courage" featurette

"AMC Backstory: The Longest Day" featurette

"D-Day Revisted" documentary

"Richard Zanuck on The Longest Day" featurette

Still Gallery

Original Theatrical Trailer plus bonus trailers