The Longest Day Details

This war film has a lot going for it: a huge budget and masses of military co-operation; the clever idea of providing a composite picture of the Allied invasion of Occupied France on D-Day 6 June 1944 from the British, American, French Resistance and German viewpoints; well-known actors from each nationality to help audiences cope with the large number of characters; and black-and-white photography to convey a sense of newsreel authenticity. The picture holds its three-hour length well and is far from gung ho in highlighting the errors and miscalculations on both sides. The battle scenes are memorably staged and the major Hollywood stars fit in particularly well — but it's let down by over-acting from many of the European players, some crude characterisation and pretentious vignettes.

Extraordinarily noisy war spectacular, enjoyable as a violent entertainment once one has caught all the threads, but emotionally unaffecting because every part is played by a star.