The Longest Day (film)

The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on Cornelius Ryans book The Longest Day 1959, about the DDay landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944, during World War II. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, who paid author Ryan 175,000 for the film rights. The screenplay was by Ryan, with additional material written by Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall and Jack Seddon. It was directed by Ken Annakin British and French exteriors, Andrew Marton American exteriors, and Bernhard Wicki German scenes.

The movie is filmed in the style of a docudrama. Beginning in the days leading up to DDay, it concentrates on events on both sides of the channel, such as the Allies waiting for the break in the poor weather and anticipating the reaction of the Axis forces defending northern France. The film pays particular attention to the decision by Gen. Eisenhower, supreme commander of SHAEF, to go after reviewing the initial badweather reports as well as reports about the divisions within the German High Command as to where an invasion might happen or what the response to it should be.Numerous scenes document the early hours ofJune when Allied airborne troops were sent in to take key locations inland from the beaches. The French resistance is also shown reacting to the news that an invasion has started. The Longest Day chronicles most of the important events surrounding DDay, from the British glider missions to secure Pegasus Bridge, the counterattacks launched by American paratroopers scattered around SainteMreglise, the infiltration and sabotage work conducted by the French resistance and SOE agents to the response by the Wehrmacht to the invasion and the uncertainty of German commanders as to whether it was a feint in preparation for crossings at the Pas de Calais see Operation Fortitude, where the senior German staff had always assumed it would be. ........

Source: Wikipedia