The Longest Day (film)
The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II.
Producer Darryl F. Zanuck paid the author of the book, Cornelius Ryan, $175,000 for the screen rights to produce the film.[3] The film was adapted from the book by Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall, Jack Seddon, and the author himself. It was directed by Ken Annakin (British and French exteriors), Andrew Marton (American exteriors), Gerd Oswald (parachute drop scene), Bernhard Wicki (German scenes), John Wayne (uncredited) and Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited).
Many of the military consultants and advisors who helped with the film's production were actual participants in the action on D-Day, and are portrayed in the film. The producers drew them from both sides; Allied and Axis. Among them are Günther Blumentritt (a former German general), James M. Gavin (an American general), Frederick Morgan (Deputy Chief of Staff at SHAEF), John Howard (who led the airborne assault on the Pegasus Bridge), Lord Lovat (who commanded the 1st Special Service Brigade), Philippe Kieffer (who led his men in the assault on Ouistreham), Pierre Koenig (who commanded the Free French Forces in the invasion), Max Pemsel (a German general), Werner Pluskat (the major who was the first German officer to see the invasion fleet), Josef "Pips" Priller (the hot-headed pilot) and Lucie Rommel (widow of Erwin Rommel).
Unique for World War II films produced at the time, all French and German characters speak in their native language with subtitles in English. A separate version exists, shot simultaneously, in which all the actors speak their lines in English, which is why the trailer has the Germans delivering their lines in English. This version saw limited use during the initial release, and more extensive use during a late 1960s re-release of the film. The English-only version was featured on the "flip side" of an older single disc DVD release.
The film, one of the very few 1960s epics made in black and white, features a large ensemble cast including actors such as Kenneth More, Richard Todd (who took part in the actual invasion), Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Red Buttons, Leo Genn, Peter Lawford, Gert Fröbe, John Wayne, Irina Demick, Bourvil, Curd Jürgens, Robert Wagner, Paul Anka and Arletty. Several of these actors played roles that were virtually cameo appearances.
Cast
Americans
| Actor |
Role |
| Eddie Albert |
Colonel Thompson, 29th Infantry Division |
| Paul Anka |
U.S. Army Ranger |
| Richard Beymer |
Private Arthur 'Dutch' Schultz, 82nd Airborne Division |
| Red Buttons |
Private John Steele, 82nd Airborne Division |
| Ray Danton |
Captain Frank |
| Fred Dur |
U.S. Army Ranger Major |
| Fabian Forte |
U.S. Army Ranger |
| Mel Ferrer |
Major General Robert Haines |
| Henry Fonda |
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.,
Deputy Commander 4th Infantry Div. |
| Steve Forrest |
Captain Harding, 82nd Airborne Division |
| Henry Grace |
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander |
| Peter Helm |
Young GI |
| Jeffrey Hunter |
Sergeant (later Lt.) John H. Fuller |
| Alexander Knox |
Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, SHAEF Chief of Staff |
| Dewey Martin |
Private Wilder (role cut from released version) |
| Roddy McDowall |
Private Morris, 4th Infantry Division |
| John Meillon |
Admiral Alan G. Kirk, Senior U.S. Naval Commander |
| Sal Mineo |
Private Martini |
| Robert Mitchum |
Brigadier General Norman Cota, Asst. Commander 29th Infantry Div. |
| Edmond O'Brien |
Major General Raymond O. Barton, Commander 4th Infantry Div. |
| Ron Randell |
Joe Williams |
| Robert Ryan |
Brigadier General James M. Gavin, Asst. Commander 82nd Airborne Div. |
| Tommy Sands |
U.S. Army Ranger |
| George Segal |
U.S. Army Ranger |
| Rod Steiger |
Destroyer Commander |
| Nicholas Stuart |
Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, Commander US First Army |
| Tom Tryon |
Lieutenant Wilson, 82nd Airborne Division |
| Robert Wagner |
U.S. Army Ranger |
| John Wayne |
Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort,
Commander 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Reg. |
| Stuart Whitman |
Lieutenant Sheen, 82nd Airborne Division |
British
| Actor |
Role |
| Patrick Barr |
Group Captain J.M. Stagg |
| Richard Burton |
Flying Officer David Campbell |
| Bryan Coleman |
Ronald Callen |
| Sean Connery |
Private Flanagan |
| Leslie de Laspee |
Private Bill Millin, No. 4 Commando (Piper on Beach) |
| Frank Finlay |
Private Coke, 2nd Oxford & Bucks L.I. |
| Leo Genn |
Brigadier Edwin P. Parker Jr. |
| Harold Goodwin |
Private, 2nd Oxford & Bucks L.I. |
| John Gregson |
British military chaplain 6th Airborne Division |
| Donald Houston |
RAF pilot at flight base |
| Simon Lack |
Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Commander Allied Air Forces |
| Peter Lawford |
Brigadier Lord Lovat, Commander 1st Special Service Brigade |
| Howard Marion-Crawford |
Dr. Vaughan, 2nd Oxford & Bucks L.I. |
| Michael Medwin |
Private Watney, 3rd Infantry Division |
| Kenneth More |
Capt. Colin Maud Royal Navy beach master |
| Louis Mounier |
Air Marshal Arthur William Tedder, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander |
| Leslie Phillips |
Royal Air Force officer |
| Trevor Reid |
General Bernard Montgomery, Commander Allied Ground Forces |
| John Robinson |
Admiral Bertram Ramsay, Commander Allied Naval Forces |
| Norman Rossington |
Private Clough |
| Richard Todd |
Major John Howard, CO 2nd Oxford & Bucks L.I. |
| Richard Wattis |
British Paratrooper officer, 6th Airborne Division |
French
Germans
| Actor |
Role |
| Hans Christian Blech |
Major Werner Pluskat, 352nd Infantry Division |
| Wolfgang Büttner |
Generalleutnant Dr. Hans Speidel, chief of staff, Army Group B |
| Gert Fröbe |
Unteroffizier "Kaffeekanne" (coffeepot) |
| Paul Hartmann |
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, commander OB West |
| Werner Hinz |
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, commander Army Group B |
| Karl John |
Generalleutnant Wolfgang Häger |
| Curd Jürgens |
General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt, chief of staff, OB West |
| Til Kiwe |
Hauptmann Helmuth Lang, Rommel's aide |
| Wolfgang Lukschy |
Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, chief of staff, OKW |
| Kurt Meisel |
Ernst Düring |
| Richard Münch |
General der Artillerie Erich Marcks, commander LXXXIV Army Corps |
| Hartmut Reck |
Bernhard Bergsdorf |
| Heinz Reincke |
Oberst Josef Priller, commander JG 26 |
| Ernst Schröder |
Generaloberst Hans von Salmuth, commander 15th Army |
| Heinz Spitzner |
Helmuth Meyer |
| Wolfgang Preiss |
Generalmajor Max Pemsel chief of intelligence, 7th Army |
| Peter van Eyck |
Oberstleutnant Ocker, chief of Luftwaffe operations, OB West |
| Vicco "Loriot" von Bülow |
Luftwaffe Chief's aid. |
Casting
- The role of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin H. Vandervoort was actively sought by Charlton Heston, but the last-minute decision of John Wayne to take a role in the film prevented Heston from participating. While everyone else accepted twenty-five thousand dollars as payment, John Wayne insisted on a quarter of a million dollars to punish Zanuck for referring to him as "poor John Wayne" regarding Wayne's problems with his lavish movie The Alamo.[4]
- Sergeant Kaffeekanne's name is German for "coffee pot", which he always carries.
- It is a common misconception that Bill Millin, the piper who accompanies Lord Lovat to Normandy with his bagpipes, played himself in the film. He was actually portrayed by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother in 1961.[5][6]
- In Sainte-Mère-Église, Private John Steele from the 82nd Airborne (played by Red Buttons) has been memorialized by the local population with a dummy hanging from a parachute from the church tower on which he accidentally landed.
- Richard Todd, who played Major John Howard, leader of the British Airborne assault on the Pegasus Bridge, took part in the real bridge assault on D-Day. Todd was offered the chance to play himself, but thought the part would be too small, so he asked to play the part of Major John Howard instead. Shortly after the British have captured the Orne bridge (later renamed Horsa Bridge) in the film, one of the soldiers tells Todd that all they have to do now is sit tight and wait for the 7th Parachute Battalion to relieve them, to which Todd replies dismissively that the Paras are always late. This was a private joke, as Todd had been the adjutant of the 7th Parachute Battalion on D-Day and did help relieve the forces on the bridge. During the scene of Todd as Howard awaiting relief from the beachhead, an officer in a Para beret next to Todd is an actor playing the real Richard Todd.
- Joseph Lowe landed on Omaha Beach and scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on D-Day. He repeated the climb for the cameras 17 years later.
- Actor Curd Jürgens portrayed the German General Blumentritt who muses on the incompetence of his superiors. Jürgens himself was actually imprisoned by the Nazis in his youth.
- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was considered for the role of himself in the film, and he indicated his willingness. However, it was decided that makeup artists couldn't make him appear young enough to play his World War II self. The role of General Eisenhower went to Henry Grace, a set decorator with no acting experience, but who had been in the film industry since the mid-1930s. He was a dead ringer for the younger Eisenhower, though his voice differed. His role in this film was his only acting credit.
- Acclaimed British actor Christopher Lee auditioned for a role, but was turned down because he did not look like a military man, even though he had served in the Royal Air Force as an Intelligence Officer. However, some film books incorrectly credit him with a role in the film.
- The film was the last one made by Sean Connery before he was cast in the role of James Bond. It is also noticeable that James Bond's later rivals, "Auric Goldfinger" and "Karl Stromberg", are played by the German actors Gert Fröbe and Curd Jürgens respectively, who coincidentally also take "Nemesis" roles in this movie (Sergeant Kaffeekanne, and General Günther Blumentritt).
- Canadian journalist Charles Lynch played an unnamed war correspondent on Juno beach, who calls the homing pigeons "traitors" when they fly towards Germany. Lynch, then working for Reuters, was one of a handful of journalists to accompany the troops ashore in the actual invasion.
- Sean Connery had a part in both movies made from Cornelius Ryan novels: Private Flanagan in The Longest Day; Major General Urquhart in A Bridge too Far.
- Wolfgang Preiss similarly had parts in the same two films: Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel in The Longest Day; Field Marshal Von Rundstedt in A Bridge too Far.
Filming
- During the filming of the landings at Omaha Beach, the extras appearing as American soldiers did not want to jump off the landing craft into the water because they thought it would be too cold. Robert Mitchum, who played General Norman Cota, became disgusted with their trepidation. He jumped in first, at which point the extras followed his example.
- The Rupert paradummies used in the film were far more elaborate and lifelike than those actually used for the decoy parachute drop (Operation Titanic), which were actually just canvas or burlap sacks filled with sand. In the real operation, six Special Air Service soldiers jumped with the dummies and played recordings of loud battle noises to distract the Germans.
- At $10,000,000, this film was the most expensive black-and-white film made until 1993, when Schindler's List was released.[3]
- In the scenes where the paratroopers land, the background noise of frogs croaking "ribbit ribbit" was wrong for northern French frog species and showed that the film probably used an American recording of background night noises.
- Colin Maud loaned Kenneth More the shillelagh he carried ashore in the actual invasion, while Richard Todd wore the actual D-Day helmet worn by Major John Howard.
- In the film, 3 Free French Special Air Service paratroopers jumped into France before British and American airborne landings. This is accurate. 36 Free French SAS (4 sticks) jumped into Brittany (Plumelec and Duault) on 5 June (11 h 30). The first Allied soldier killed in action was Free French Corporal Emile Bouetard: 6 June (0 h 40) in Plumelec, Morbihan.
- The US Navy extensively supported the filming and made available many amphibious landing ships and craft, though many of the ships were of (then) modern vintage. The USS Springfield, and USS Little Rock, both WW2 light cruisers (though extensively reconfigured into guided missile cruisers) were used in the shore bombardment scenes, though it was easy to tell they did not resemble their wartime configuration.
Awards
- Academy Awards for Best Art Direction (1962): Ted Haworth, Léon Barsacq, Vincent Korda and Gabriel Béchir (nominated)[7]
- Academy Awards for Best Cinematography (1962): Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottitz (won)[7]
- Academy Awards for Best Editing (1962): Samuel E. Beetley (nominated)[7]
- Academy Awards for Best Picture (1962): (nominated)[7]
- Academy Awards for Best Special Effects (1962): (won)[7]
Notes
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