Au sixième jour

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...

This is one of those movies where history (IWW II) seems to get in the way of romance (Taylor and Wynter). He's a married American officer stationed in England, falling in love with a beautiful young Red Cross worker (Wynter), while she's already in love with a gung ho British officer (Todd). Wow! All that with bombs falling, guns firing and secret missions. Taylor and Wynter pull it off nicely, but the movie as a whole will leave you a little disappointed. Mind you, it is a good way to kill a couple of hours.

It's rather strange watching D DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE in 2005 because what strikes you is that it's a war movie made with a female audience in mind . Maybe it wasn't so strange at the time because a large proportion of the female population in Britain at the time could probably relate to having both a British boyfriend and an American lover on the go at the same time , but still the thought of a war movie marketed towards women seems somewhat bizarre since it's a genre most females seem to dislike . For example has anyone seen the comments on BLACK HAWK DOWN from teenage girls confessing they went to the cinema simply to see Orlando Bloom and had to endure two hours of on screen carnage ?

My problem D DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE is that it's an American movie . Nothing wrong with that since the Yanks make better films than anyone else but since it's based on actual events it's a very poor history lesson . For example we cut via flashback to a radio broadcast in 1942 stating that because of American involvement in North Africa the campaign was now a foregone conclusion . I will state truthfully that Britain couldn't have won the second world war without American assistance , but we won the Battle of Britain without American assistance and in 1941 British Commonwealth forces numbering 36,000 managed to hold back an Italian army numbering 400,000 in North Africa , while the decisive battle in the region at El Alamein was an entirely British commonwealth victory save for some equipment that was made in America . Watching this movie you're led to believe that the Brits didn't have a clue what they were doing unless they had expert help from Uncle Sam . Britain spent almost two years alone fighting the Axis powers , which is not something you'd learn from this movie

There areone or two good points . One is Richard Todd's performance as a British para . Todd spent the second world war as an officer in the parachute regiment and took part in the D Day landings himself so he gives method acting a whole new meaning , though his character isn't on screen as much as he should have been . Despite being filmed 50 years ago the long awaited battle scenes are good and must have been outstanding in their day , and lastly despite having an American bias this movie occasionally points out the Canadian contribution to the Second world war something that THE LONGEST DAY negates somewhat

Okay, we'll keep this one short: lots of big stars (Robert Taylor, Dana Wynter, Edmund O'Brien, et al), lots of extras, lots and lots of talking, but absolutely no sense of urgency or feeling of impending action is present in this hour and 46 minute blabfest. In fact, for the first 80 minutes, nothing much happens. Yes, Taylor is quite handsome in his military uniform and, yes, Ms. Wynter is very fetching in her military uniform and, yes, a predictable romance develops with an equally predictable ending, but THAT'S IT!! That's the whole plodding film in a nutshell. Believe us, if movies about the greatest invasion in history are the sort of thing that floats your boat, you would be much better advised to stick with "The Longest Day". This over-processed turkey spread shoulda stayed in the can.

This WWII tear-jerker romance centered around the Normandy invasion in 1944 is one of my all time favorites of this genre. Most notably, the pairing of Robert Taylor and Dana Wynter seemed perfect casting. They are very natural together, real old pros. They exemplified the difficult relationships couples shared in wartime, grabbing a piece of life in the few moments available between battles.