Au sixième jour

This movie's opening prologue states: "1944 . Half a million men awaited the signal to cross the English Channel. For many it was to be the last day of their lives. It was D-day the sixth of June" . One ship , transporting Special Force Six , is assigned on a dangerous mission , and ahead the main invasion . On board are British Colonel Wynter (Richard Todd who actually took part in the invasion as a parachutist) and American Captain Parker (Robert Taylor who gives a surprisingly fine acting) , both of whom remember their lives in flashbacks . The coming battle results to be a dangerous and nearly impossible assignment into French territory occupied by the Nazis . Five beaches -codenamed Utah , Omaha , Gold , Juno and Sword- were selected as the landings points for the British , Canadian and US Corps , the operation will be preceded by a month-long bombing campaign to disrupt communications , preventing reinforcements from moving quickly into the threatened area and destroy vital bridges and gun positions . As the two American and a British officers reminisce in flashbacks about their previous romances with the same woman , in special their separate involvements with Valerie Russel (Dana Wynter , though Jean Simmons was originally cast in the lead female acting character) .

This dramatic film about an unresolved love story , is narrated aboard a ship , en route to Normandy , by means of flashbacks in with two officers reminisce about a triangular love story , including a dramatisation of the Normandy landings . The movie utilizes an often-used plot of the war movie genre which has two soldiers , here Richard Todd and Robert Taylor , in love with the same woman , the gorgeous Dana Wynter . Impressive and breathtaking final scenes when there takes place the Normandy invasion , being confined to the film's last fifteen minutes , though filmmaker used only eighty soldiers and two Higgins Boats or Landing Crafts . The ending images will determine the surprising denouement in which one comes together to her . Trio protagonist is pretty good , Robert Taylor gives a restrained interpretation as the enamored captain who falls deeply with the beauteous Dana Wynter and Richard Tood is nice as the upright and brave Lt. Col. John Wynter . Support cast is frankly well , such as : Edmond O'Brien , John Williams , Jerry Paris and Richard Wyler .

Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Lynn Murray . Colorful cinematography in Technicolor by the splendid director of photography Lee Garmes . Shot on location in California , the naval scenes were filmed at the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island California, and at the Fox Studio back-lot . The motion picture based on the fictional 1955 romantic war novel, 'The Sixth of June' by Lionel Shapiro (who had been a World War II Canadian war correspondent) was professional but slowly directed by Henry Koster . He was an expert on super-productions and epic biographies , such as he proved in : ¨Desiree¨, ¨The Virgin Queen¨, ¨A man called Peter¨, ¨The story of Ruth¨ , ¨The Naked Maja¨ and the successful ¨The Robe¨ . He directed what was his biggest success to date , the James Stewart comedy ¨Invisible Harvey¨ (1950) . Koster directed a few more costume dramas , such as ¨Desirée¨ (1954) with Marlon Brando , then went back to family comedies and musicals, such as ¨Flower Drum Song¨ (1961) . After he finished ¨Dominique¨ or ¨The singing nun¨ (1966) he retired from the film business .

Despite the imposing title D-Day the Sixth of June which might lead one to believe it is an account of the Normandy invasion. It is in fact and old fashioned war romance. For Robert Taylor this was a throwback picture, back to the kind of romantic stuff he did in his early days of being MGM's number one pin-up boy.

Dana Wynter has Richard Todd as her steady beau who's gone to war just as America's gotten into it via Pearl Harbor. Todd goes missing in action and Wynter in her best British stiff upper lip style goes to help in the war effort herself as the Nazis loom perilously close to the island kingdom.

Robert Taylor gets to be one of the first American officers assigned over in Europe and Wynter and he meet via an altercation her father, John Williams, has with some bumptious GIs. Wynter diplomatically smooths things out and she and Taylor develop a relationship. It can't really go anywhere because Taylor's married. But they're both in need of each other at the moment.

Curiously enough this does parallel the situation of the Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower who carried on an affair with his British driver Kay Summersby. Ike of course was married and Kay was a war widow.

Todd does make it back and that does complicate matters. All this in the shadow of the impending cross-channel invasion.

Richard Todd had a promising career during the 1950s. He became well known to American audiences via his appearance in some Disney films and other American productions. Strangely enough it seemed to halt in the following decade and the international stardom that beckoned never came to fruition. He was a fine player capable of a wide variety of roles, even being a villain in a Hitchcock film. But I personally like him best as a hero.

And a genuine hero he was. He was actually at D-Day as a British Commando and won a whole slew of medals. Bob Taylor also was in the Armed Forces in World War II, he did three years in Uncle Sam's Navy in the Pacific.

Dana Wynter I've always thought of as a British version of Ava Gardner. And she had the talent to match. She also should have had a bigger career. I would say her beauty is regal and lo and behold she actually made that statement true when she portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in a film about Charles and Diana.

For war picture fans there's still enough action to satisfy. The only other role of real significance was Edmond O'Brien as Taylor's boss at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Another reviewer said his role was not developed well. I wish it had been myself. But it probably would have taken away from the romance.

A film which springs immediately to mind after watching D-Day the Sixth of June is Abbott and Costello go to Mars. In that cerebral little opus A&C never actually get to Mars - they go to Venus instead, and even then it is only after some considerable preliminaries. Unlike that picture, D-Day the Sixth of June does actually get to the events referred to, but it is only as an aside for ten minutes or so at the end; like Abbott and Costello go to Mars, the title is a complete misrepresentation.

For most of its running time this film is actually a boring and clichéd melodrama in which Robert Taylor, Richard Todd and Dana Wynter play three two-dimensional characters involved in a love triangle against a backdrop of wartime England (Hollywood's conception of wartime England, anyway). The three roles may just as well have been played by cardboard cut-outs, but for what it's worth Richard Todd probably comes off best, being the only one of the major cast members who even hints at creating a real-life character. Robert Taylor is at his most wooden, and also possibly a little too old for his role. His love scenes with Dana Wynter generate less passion than an undertaker's convention. But then again, Dana Wynter always did seem to me to be a particularly passionless actress.

It can only be regretted that the film's makers did not spend more time on the subsidiary characters, who seem to me to be far more interesting. Brigadier Russell is well played by John Williams, and his resentment of the American interlopers is a theme which could have been developed far more fully. Likewise the flaky nature of Edmond O'Briens Colonel Timmer is never really explored or explained in any sense at all.

All in all, I enjoyed Abbott and Costello Go to Mars a lot more.

Another big-budget WWII adventure, filmed in color and widescreen by Fox in the '50s - and a misleadingly titled one, as it barely concerns the crucial 1944 Normandy invasion it references (not surprisingly Fox returned to this subject, and tackled it much more comprehensively, in THE LONGEST DAY [1962])! As a matter of fact, the film's one genuine battle sequence, while quite well done, occurs only after having gone through some 80 minutes of incessant talk; the bulk of this footage is devoted to a romantic triangle, told in lengthy flashbacks, which comprises American Robert Taylor and Brits Richard Todd and Dana Wynter, plus a rather irrelevant subplot involving maverick Colonel Edmond O'Brien! That said, the film is glossily proficient and remains highly watchable as the kind of unassuming entertainment turned out on a general basis by Hollywood in its heyday...

For many years, I avoided watching "D-Day the Sixth of June" because I assumed it was a film about the D-Day invasion. I was shocked to learn that it really was NOT about D-Day...and was much more a romance than a war film. What a surprise.

The film begins on a transport ship taking some commandos on a raid just before the main D-Day attack. A British officer (Richard Todd) and an American one (Robert Taylor) meet each other for the first time and they both realize they have something in common...they are in love with the same woman. The film then does a brief flashback about the relationship between Todd and Dana Wynter and a much longer flashback about the relationship between Taylor and Wynter. The latter is complicated because Taylor's character happens to be married.

This film plays more like a soap opera in many ways than a war film. In this sense, it's a bit similar to "From Here to Eternity"....though a bit less grand in scope. After all, the battle sequences consists of a few dozen men at a time and lacks the scope of the attack on Pearl Harbor in "From Here to Eternity". However, they both are very good films...soap and all.

Overall, this is a very good film despite the ubiquitous use of the song "You Never Know"...a song you come to hate after a while. Still, very well made and worth seeing.