Der Längste Tag

June 6, 1944. The date when everybody knows what happened. The Longest Day is one of the old guard of war movies that you have no chance of coming across these days. Currently, we have to see flags fluttering in the wind, a shaky camera and far too long patriotic speeches to the squad, ideally to the sound of booming music. Here it’s almost precisely the other way round. During the action we get almost no jabbering or music, the lines are like “we have to go on or we’ll die" or something motivational in one or two sentences. The Germans do not serve only as machine-gun fodder for the Allies. The battles are monumental, while easy to follow, despite the scores (or maybe even hundreds) of extras on set and focusing on about six different sites. You always know exactly where you are, who you are there with and what’s going on. Which is even more surprising if you consider that each section is filmed by a different director. And that reminds me... I wouldn’t have believed that so many stars and such its detailed, almost documentary scope could possibly be covered so well in a period of just three hours. Especially with the pace here... Fifteen years later, Richard Attenborough attempted to go down the same road as The Longest Day with his A Bridge Too Far, about Operation Market Garden. Despite its unarguable quality, it ended up disintegrating into isolated scenes rather than working as a whole. The exact opposite to what they achieved in The Longest Day. To conclude, I would like to paraphrase the Czech bard Cimrman: Ryan has no chance; there’s no comparison. (07.02.2008)

What I personally admire about John Wayne is his voice. It's the voice of a determined, strong man, a voice that you can calmly listen to because you know that what he says is always true. It's a voice you can trust, that can scold you, but you know that he means well and only scolds you because you didn't handle something. That's why this guy was so great for westerns, for the characters of honest men. It's not just his tall figure, but also the voice through which he could give orders, through which he could utter sentences that would sound foolish and unnecessary moralizing from anyone else's mouth. I have to admit that I literally waited to hear him again. He is perfect for the character of a high-ranking military commander. Not just his voice, but John Wayne as a whole. What is more American than a western? Of course, the American army. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/03/nejdelsi-den-1962-70.html (10.04.2013)

The longest film about the longest day flows like water. The script delivers a perfect balance between the Allied and German perspectives, civil dialogues and explanations of military strategies, epic scenes with dozens of extras and quieter sequences indoors. The long list of known faces this time doesn’t hurt, it actually helps the viewer to better know which of the storylines they are following. What prevents it from being perfect is, paradoxically, the lack of sharper personal stories and the suppression of fatalism at the expense of an ironic wink at a history that had already been written. But in terms of the exceptional narrative scale and the communicativeness with the viewer, it’s basically flawless. 85% (02.03.2019)

The film was made in the early 60s and represents, in both good and bad, a reflection of the war genre in American cinema in the 50s, and forms its imaginary peak for that decade. It is highly ambitious, has a large budget, and is able to create a magnificent spectacle full of war techniques, thousands of extras, and big film stars of its era. I understand the high, even the highest, ratings by many users, but it was never an emotional matter for me. What bothered me about it, and still bothers me, is the use of humorous moments that are meant to gain additional sympathy from allied soldiers and officers and entertain the audience. It is paradoxical that from a cinematic perspective, the German side comes across better because it is portrayed more soberly, without humorous detachment. In a film that, on one hand, tries to portray a realistic depiction of a grand battle, there are "cool" scenes on the side of the allies, which we would now call out of place, and try to aim for a different genre. In a tense situation, a choir of nuns suddenly marches in, and it feels like I've been hit between the eyes with an axe. In a dramatic moment of landing, the camera plays with a bulldog who faithfully stands by its officer and indifferently watches the battle frenzy around. Or, you can be amused by the clumsiness and impracticality of the field priest, etc., etc. I don't deny that the film has several very well-crafted war scenes, such as the clash over the Ouistreham casino, the fights over coastal fortresses, or the paratrooper stuck on a church tower, but as a whole, the film is far from reaching the highest standards for me. Overall impression: 65%. (12.08.2012)

The Longest Day is a lavish war spectacle whose multi-perspective, novel-like structure presents an extraordinarily complex picture of the famous landing. From the beginning, the film cuts in parallel between men of different ranks and nationalities, each of whom has access to different information, which significantly helps to build tension. On the one hand, we don’t want the Germans to know when the Allies are going to attack, while at the same time we hope for the members of the French Resistance, for example, to be informed of the invasion in time. Victory can be achieved only with proper synchronisation. Thanks to the film’s long runtime, we can be gradually introduced to all of the main characters (although you will later recognise them by the famous faces of the actors portraying them rather than by their names), but emphasis is placed primarily on the operation itself and its individual steps, not on the psychology of the characters and their emotional lives. This is a similarly fascinating procedural ensemble war-movie event as offered by The Guns of Navarone a year earlier and Where Eagles Dare several years later. In comparison to those films, however, The Longest Day focuses more on conveying historical facts as faithfully as possible (within the limits of the genre and Hollywood narrative), thus anticipating the docudramas that would come into fashion somewhat later. Thanks to the focus on what is essential, the film is also action-packed. Something important is happening, or at least about to happen, at almost all times. Some of the mass scenes, obviously shot with hundreds of extras running around on the beach, are breathtaking not only in their sweeping scope, but also in the virtuosity of the direction (one continuous aerial shot of fighting taking place on both sides of the river is especially outstanding). The occasional comedic moments (the passing nuns) and the dialogue scenes between the soldiers (which don’t push the “big story” anywhere) thus provide viewers a welcome chance to catch their breath. Due to the nature of the project and the time when it was made, the concept of war is relatively black-and-white. In particular, the American soldiers are flawless heroes, killing is inevitable and does not evoke ambivalent feelings, and the nihilistic epilogue in the form of the final bit of dialogue comes too late. But even a strong allergy to John Wayne and heroic celebrations of virility won’t stop you from enjoying how skilfully the film is constructed and how its construction is in some ways reminiscent of (among others) Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. 80% (10.08.2017)