Hi all,, I have just for the first time ever sat and watched the THE LONGEST DAY yes i know its been out a while but never got around to watching it !! What a great film !!! I don,t know how it rates with you lot but i think it was GREAT ! Now are there any more real good films like this i should watch ? Maybe on D day it self ??
Try watching all 10 hours of Band of Brothers or failing that When Trumpets Fade about the battle of the Hergen Forest. Ryan
The BBC Drama Documentary on D-Day (discussed elsewhere on the forum) was pretty good and is now available on DVD. My personal choice of war films: Patton Twelve O'Clock High The Cruel Sea Das Boot The Battle of Britain Band of Brothers 'A Bridge Too Far', essentially a later follow-up to 'Longest Day', has its moments but strays too far from the actual events, especially towards the end.
I think 'Longest Day' is a very good film. It made a lot of money at the time and it has done much to shape public perceptions of D-Day. It is not as historically accurate as it likes to make out, however, and has been responsible for the perpetuation of quite a few myths e.g: There were actually no explosives in place under Pegasus Bridge and the bit about the doctor being on the wrong side of the river seems to have been invented General James Gavin was quite a bit younger in real life than Robert Ryan, who plays him in the film, The German with his boots on the wrong feet survived, The battle on Omaha Beach is very misrepresented, particularly the end and dramatic charge up the bluffs. I still don't know why groups of Americans are shown running up the beach carrying rubber dinghies. The 'Rupert' dummy paratroopers were crude figures made of cloth, not the elaborate mannequins shown in the film. I'm pretty sure that the 'Rupert' on display at Arromanches Museum is actually a prop from the film. Quite a few real quotes are given to other people in the film. The Canadians are mentioned once, if at all, in the whole picture. But of course, it's a film, not a documentary.
Battle of Britain - the stars are the aeroplanes! Dunkirk is very watchable. The Cruel Sea is good. Enemy Within is a good POW camp yarn. Some excellent atmospheric Desert War films are Ice Cold in Alex and Sea of Sand, and Sahara (the 1943 version) is fun. Must be more. Regards, David
