The longest daythe great film about the Landings
In 1962, an epic war film was released in France and the United States, combining both the excess of fictional cinema and the intention of a documentary drama. The longest daydirected by a trio composed of Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton and Bernhard Wicki, under the direction of Darryl F. Zanuck who produced the film for 20th Century Fox, it is in fact a cinematic “effort” reminiscent of the historical blockbusters of the age of Hollywood gold.
More often than not, if you stick to a historical or biblical recitation, there is an even more recent story here: the Débarquement of the allied forces in Normandy on 6 June 1944, also called “Jour J” or more , therefore, “The longest day“.
An extraordinary film
To tell the story of June 6, 1944, The longest day it is essentially from the point of view of the Allies, but also from that of the Germans. Filmed and presented during the very tense years of the Cold War with the USSR, Soviet forces are not depicted in the film.
In this epic war film we see both generals and ordinary soldiers, to offer a global and multi-scale vision of the event. The longest day takes its time telling the story of the Landing, with a running time of 2h58. At the time it was presented as the most expensive film in the history of cinema (about 10 million dollars, or 100 million today), competing with Cleopatra by Joseph L. Mankiewicz released in 1963.
The longest day wants to be an international film, and for its screenplay, which Darryl F. Zanuck wants to be as realistic as possible, recruits the French writer Romain Garythe British Noël Coward and German (naturalized American) Erich Maria Nota so that the different points of view present in the film are seriously documented and founded.
An incredible cast
The battle sequences are spectacular, and the choice of black and white – to give realism – allows the inclusion of sometimes authentic images, even in black and white, of the Landing. The extras mobilize in their thousands, various armies participate by lending men and equipment, and above all the assembled cast is mind-boggling.
Its cast includes, among others, the English Richard Burton and Sean Connery, the French Jean Servais and Georges Wilson, Bourvil and Arletty, the Germans Paul Hartmann, Curd Jürgens, Hans Christian Blech and Gert Fröbe, the Americans Henry Fonda and Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Richard Beymer, Rod Steiger, Robert Ryan, etc.
Two connections with Steven Spielberg
Obviously, The longest day has an exceptional legacy in the history of cinema and has largely influenced the staging of war films. In this regard, it has since maintained two connections with the work of Steven Spielberg The longest day stay the most expensive black and white film ever madeUntil Schindler’s List in 1993. And it is certain that the opening sequence of We have to save Private Ryanwhere the Landing is represented in its maximum chaos and in all its violence, expertly echoes in the excess of its production the sequences of The longest daythemselves extraordinary and unreleased when released in 1962.
Source: Cine Serie
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