SYNOPSIS: "The Longest Day" is the epic, all-star movie about D-Day. It covers the invasion through a series of vignettes and reenactments of key moments. It is told through the viewpoints of both the Allies and the Germans.
BACK-STORY: “The Longest Day” is the granddaddy of the war movie epics. Its progeny include “A Bridge Too Far”, “The Battle of the Bulge”, “Battle of Britain”, etc. It was a labor of love for famed producer Darryl Zanuck who purchased the rights to Cornelius Ryan’s bestseller. Zanuck got multinational cooperation and brought in a international cast. At $10 million, it was the most expensive black and white film until “Schindler’s List”. Zanuck used several directors and was very hands-on. He insisted on shooting at the actual locations whenever possible, which included Ste. Mere Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, and Pegasus Bridge. The Omaha landings were filmed on Corsica. The movie was a box office success and was the highest grossing black and white movie until “Schindler’s List”. It won Oscars for Cinematography and Special Effects. It was nominated for Picture (“Lawrence of Arabia” won), Art Direction, and Editing.
TRIVIA: Wikipedia, IMDB, TCM, “The Longest Headache” Life Oct. 12, 1962, Guts and Glory
1. It is based on the book by Cornelius Ryan. Ryan wrote the screenplay, but producer Daryl Zanuck brought in a few other writers to improve it. One of them was author James Jones (uncredited) to snap up the soldier dialogue. He asked Erich Remarque to help with the German scenes, but Remarque simply returned the script with a note that it was fine as is. Along with a large bill for “consulting”. When Ryan first met Zanuck it was hate at first sight. Ryan was not a believer in dramatic license. Elmo Williams had to act as a go-between for script revisions.
2. Several of the stars were veterans of WWII: Henry Fonda, Leo Genn, Kenneth More, Rod Steiger, and Richard Todd.
3. The technical advisers included Gen. Blumentritt, James Gavin, Werner Pluskat, “Pips” Priller, Lucie Rommel, and John Howard.
4. When the extras were reluctant to leave the landing craft because of the cold water (in another version, they were reluctant to get in the landing craft), Robert Mitchum jumped in and shamed them into moving.
5. The $10 million cost was the most for a black and white movie until “Schindler’s List”. Zanuck decided to do it in black and white for two reasons: to give it a documentary feel and to make the old actors look younger. The rumor that another reason was to blend in archival footage is not true because no archival footage was used in the film.
6. Richard Todd turned down the chance to play himself in the Pegasus Bridge scenes. He wore John Howard’s helmet. Kenneth More used Colin Maud’s shillelagh for his beachmaster role. The bulldog was not English, he was French because of restrictions on bringing animals into France. The dog had to be tranquilized because of the explosions. He was mellow during the filming.
7. Charleton Heston really wanted to play Vandervoort, but when John Wayne jumped in at the last minute, Heston was dumped. Wayne was mad at Zanuck because he had made some cracks about the financial problems of Wayne’s “The Alamo”. He demanded $250,000 instead of the standard $25,000 the other stars got.
8. The 505th Airborne Battle Group were used for the Pointe du Hoc assault. One of the men, Joseph Lowe, reenacted his climb from his participation in the actual attack.
9. Former President Eisenhower was considered for playing himself, but the make-up artists could not make him young enough. The Ike in the movie was played by Henry Grace, who was a Hollywood set designer who bore an uncanny resemblance to the general. Grace made his acting debut.
10. Richard Burton and Roddy McDowell were filming “Cleopatra” in Italy and had some downtime. They flew in and did their cameos for free.
11. The U.S., Great Britain, and France provided around 23,000 soldiers.
12. Curt Jurgens, who played Gen. Blumentritt, had been imprisoned by Nazis during WWII.
13. Zanuck wanted to use an actual paradrop for the Ste. Mere Eglise scene, but only a few of the parachutists landed in the square and a few more were injured. They had to end up using cranes dropping the men.
14. The fleet scenes used 22 ships from the U.S. 6th Fleet off the coast of Corsica. The 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Division was practicing landings. The cameramen were instructed to avoid shooting the black Marines.
15. Zanuck told Ryan he would not have any females or romance in his film. Then Zanuck met Irina Demick at a cocktail party. She became his mistress and Zanuck changed his mind about the romance.
16. 500,000 blanks were fired during production.
17. The Pentagon was very cooperative, but felt burnt when Zanuck left in a scene depicting the killing of German soldiers attempting to surrender. Zanuck had agreed to delete it and then kept it in. When the Pentagon attempted to put its foot down, the movie had already been released.
18. The censors demanded that words like crap, muck it, motherlover, bastard, damn, and hell be cut. James Jones was particularly incensed with this denial of reality. They also wanted the bloodshed toned down, but Zanuck disregarded this.
19. Three Spitfires were located in Belgium and two Me-109 Spanish versions were used. Two replicas of the gliders were commissioned from the piano company that built them during the war.
20. There was concern over the casting of three teen idols (Fabian, Paul Anka, and Tommy Sands) for the Pointe du Hoc scene. Especially after Sands was out for a while because of sand in his eye and a broken fingernail. But in the end, the three did a decent job and earned the respect of the soldier extras.
Belle and Blade = 2.0
Brassey’s = 5.0
Video Hound = 3.8
War Movies = 5.0
Military History = #15
Channel 4 = #20
Film Site = yes
101 War Movies = yes
Rotten Tomatoes = 67
HISTORICAL ACCURACY: People who have not read Ryan’s book have faulted some of the obvious Hollywoodisms in the movie. And truthfully, there are vignettes and character developments that seem invented. However, as you will see if you go to my post on "History or Hollywood: The Longest Day" (http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135425), most of the dubious elements are actually true to Ryan’s well-researched book. Some of the supposedly hokey dialogue in the movie is straight from the book (which was based on extensive interviews by Ryan).
As a tutorial, the movie does a great job telling the story of D-Day. Zanuck brought in ten technical advisers, but entertainment and logistics trumped them in some cases. For instance, Rupert (the dummy) was a lot less photogenic in real pseudo-life. There was no casino at Ouistreham at the time of the assault. Most problematic is the simplistic success at Omaha.
The movie is often labeled a docudrama. This is a misnomer, but buttresses its claims to accuracy. It is easy to watch the way the movie covers most of the cogent facts about Operation Overlord and the balanced approach to both sides and think you are watching a documentary.
OPINION: This is a big movie. Zanuck went all in and it shows. He literally commanded an army of actors and crew. The equipment is sometimes anachronistic (the ME-109s are actually ME-108s, for instance), but it was not from lack of trying. He also spent a lot of effort trying to get things right. For example, he originally tried to reenact the drop on Ste. Mere Eglise using actual paratoopers dropping from planes. Uncooperative winds put an end to that noble attempt. He insisted all the dialogue be in the correct language. Using subtitles was a bold move and sends a strong message that entertainment was not the only goal.
Some critics find fault with the cast and the acting. There is something of a stunt feel to it, but the variety of characters was based on the book and why not have the best professionals play the roles? Granted, it is hard not to see John Wayne as playing Col. John Wayne (actually he is Lt. Col. Vandervoort). Can anyone seriously argue that Zanuck, who is making the epic WWII movie, should pass up the chance to have the biggest star on Earth and the man most associated with war movies in his film?
The movie is uniformly well-acted. There is little scene-chewing by the stars in spite of their recognition that their screen time would be very limited. It is interesting to see how the big stars use little tricks of the trade to maximize their time on camera. The amazing aspect of the casting is the most memorable performances are by the B-Listers. Richard Beymer (the Rosary carrying paratrooper) and Hans Blech (the German who is the first to see the armada coming right at him) come to mind. More importantly, some of the performances made the actual people famous. What American would have cared about the fascinating “Pips” Priller (look him up on Wikipedia) if not for Heinz Reincke’s vibrant portrayal?
The cinematography is crisp black and white. Most of it is standard, but then you have the Ste. Mere Eglise drop and the casino tracking shot to marvel at. The movie has a surprising lack of score. This is so refreshing compared to other Old School WWII movies! No pomposity or mood manipulating.
The plot handles a complex topic in a way that you do not need much knowledge of D-Day to follow it. Unlike many similar movies, TLD periodically informs us when and where the action is taking place. The jumping between the Allies and the Germans works well. The Germans are not demonized and in fact there is not a single “heil Hitler” in the film. For a serious pseudo-documentary, there are brief, but effective interjections of humor. My favorite is when the reporter accuses the wayward carrier pigeon with being a "damned traitor".
In conclusion, considering it was the first of its type (the big budget, all-star, battle epic) and has had many challengers over the years, it is amazing that you can argue it is still the best of them all. I doubt it could be much better than it is, given the state of war movie making in 1962. I think it is also true to say that even with modern technology, a remake could not improve on it. Zanuck did not try to reinvent the genre, but he did create a subgenre and using orthodox methods fashioned a masterpiece. Although it is sometimes unfairly compared to “Saving Private Ryan”, it is actually the perfect companion to it. By watching both, one gets a well-rounded view of D-Day. As far as its placement at #27, that is not surprising considering most critics are not enamored with it. I feel it should be in the top ten. It is much better than many of the upcoming movies, as you will see.
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