The Longest Day (movie)

The Longest Day is a 1962 American epic war movie, filmed in black and white. It is based on Cornelius Ryan's 1959 non-fiction book of the same name. It is about the D-Day landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944. 

It was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. 

Shot in a docudrama style, the film opens in the days leading up to D-Day, concentrating on events on both sides of the English channel.  The allies wait for a break in the poor weather conditions while anticipating the reaction of the Axis forces defending northern France.

Multiple scenes document the early hours of June 6.  Allied airborne troops being sent in to take key locations inland, away from the beaches and the French resistance reaction to the news that the invasion has started.

Also important events surrounding D-day; British troops glider missions to secure Pegasus Bridge, the counterattacks launched American paratroopers scattered around Sainte- Mere-Eglise, the infiltration and sabotage work conducted by the French resistance and SOE agents and the response by the Wehrmacht to the invasion.  also shown is the uncertainty of German commanders regarding whether this is a feint in preparation for Allied crossings at the Strait of Dover where the senior German staff had always assumed where the invasion would take place.

The German generals blame a so called German corporal for not seeing the coming of the invasion.  

Set piece scenes include the parachute drop into Sainte-Mere- Englise, the advance inshore from the Normandy beaches, the U. S. Ranger Group assault on the Pointe du Hoc, the attack on Ouistreham by Free French Forces and the strafing of the beaches by two lone Luftwaffe pilots.  The film concludes with the montage showing various Allied units consolidating their beachheads before they advance inland by crossing France to eventually breach Germany.

References

Category:1962 war movies
Category:1960s epic movies
Category:20th Century Fox movies
Category:American epic movies
Category:American war movies
Category:Movies based on books
Category:Movies directed by Ken Annakin
Category:Movies directed by Andrew Marton
Category:Movies directed by Bernhard Wicki
Category:Movies composed by Maurice Jarre