Customer Reviews

D-Day, the Sixth of June

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The title of this movie is deceptive advertising, the war is a backdrop to a very predictable love triangle. There is about 15 minutes of decent action which recreates (but does not credit)the Point du Hoc battle. Robert Tayor is sincere but 10 years to old to be a Captain leading troops in 1946. Dana Wynter is pretty enough to inspire two manly suitors but oddly doesn't seem to have any real passionate feelings for either. The brit commando third of this triangle is likable but out of the picture for all but a few minutes at the beginning and at the end. In short, a chic flic spun with a not very compelling tried and true wartime love triangle. Solid actors try but fail with mediocre material.

If you're expecting anything like "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Longest Day," you've come to the wrong film. This film focuses primarily on the love interests of Todd and Taylor for Dana Wynter (a rather lovely Dana at That). The second world war focuses primarily as a backdrop.

The film takes place in England and the English are stereotyped as American loathers and ingrates. This is admittedly hard for the viewer to stomach. We are also treated to a mundane script which doesn't give the good ol' boys (Richard Todd, Robert Taylor, Jerry Paris) much to chew on.

The film redeems itself somewhat in the end with an excellent although short pre-invasion landing on one of Normandy's beaches by American and British troops. The battle sequences are effective and very convincing as the group attempts to knock out a bunker complex.

In true Hollywood fashion, the film concludes with Dana Wynter fading into the sunset, having lost both her loves, one at the Normandy landing, the other through mutual self-righteousness. There's nothing to sink your teeth into here, but if you like candy coated versions of war, this is a good place to start.

Disapointing. I was looking forward to a good action movie, but most of the movie is a love story, and the movie only gets to D-Day at the very end. The title is misleading.

I read many of the other reviews and I understand many thought the name is misleading and maybe is somewhat so, but that doesn't detract from the spectacular performances by Robert Taylor and Dana Wynter. What's so amazing is they capture perfectly and insightfully portray what it was like to experience the fear and lonliness many experienced in World War II. In all their emotional complexities of being away from home and family (Robert Taylor) or that of a loved one being off to war (Dana Wynters), these two heroes begin by finding comfort in their friendship. As time progresses and the pain of war begins taking it's toll on them, they find solace in each others arms. This romance is worthy of the classic movies like Casablanca and From here to Eternity where the same dilemma plagued Ingrid Bergman

Michael Bay must have studied this film before he made his own execrable "Pearl Harbor." In both cases, the filmmakers cynically titled their product after a famous WWII battle although they were really more interested in developing a dull, cliched love triangle than honestly confronting and exploring the meaning, experience, and drama of a significant historical event. At least, Bay relieved the tedium with some action. "D-Day" director Henry Koster doesn't address the actual invasion until the final ten minutes or so of this overlong film, and by then it is far too little far too late. Robert Taylor, Dana Wynter, and Richard Todd deliver their performances with all the animation of store-front mannequins. Taylor is far too old for this role, but Wynter, at least, is very nice to look at.

I thought the Green Berets was bad, but this is just awful. The title thinks that this film will be a nice supplement to the D-day masterpiece The Longest Day and the ferocious opener of Saving Private Ryan. Heh, don't even bother. Only about the last ten minutes is reserved for a crappy recreation of point du hoc, portrayed much better in the aforementioned The Longest Day. Nope, it's apparently not about D-Day or one of it's main landing points (criticizers of SPR take notes. It's Omaha Beach depicted, NOT The Normandy Landings).

So what is this movie about? A _________ love triangle. _____________!!!!!!!!! Looked, it worked in Enemy at the Gates (probably because they didn't FOCUS on it), but this film's plot is godawful. It's predictable and cliched and doesn't work at all. Trust me on this one, if you are wondering if this movie is a war drama of any kind, please just leave the page right now. You are not missing this horrid z-grade script.

Even worse, it doesn't even look like a gritty realistic war picture. It's an ugly, technicolor work that looks as bright as Singin' in the Rain (before you go nuts, that's one of my favorite films), and after viewing grim black and white and war films with desaturated colors, this film seems even more coated and cheesy. Of course, the _______ sound design and the flat sounding soundtrack they used on old war films, making the film even more stagnated. The two leading actors are bland and wooden, and while the leading lady is pretty, she has as much charisma as a can of tuna. There's just not much to explain other than this movie is just awful.

It may just sound like I am throwing insults at this piece of crap, but god forbid, I mean all of them! This isn't a bitter rant, this film is really that bad. Fox War Classics? To think this is paired with the same label as the masterful The Thin Red Line shows how stupid Fox really is. Leave this movie in the bargain bin where it belongs. This is the kind of film you find at the dollar store.

PLOT-0/10
CHARACTERS-0/10
BATTLE SEQUENCES-2/10
DIRECTING AND STYLE 2/10

This 1956 effort is pure production line stuff given a CinemaScope and Stereophonic gloss, with the emphasis on romantic, rather than military, manoeuvres. Robert Taylor (understandably) loves Dana Wynter, who also (not so understandably) loves Richard Todd; Edmond O'Brien loves glory; and John Williams just hangs around the sidelines of both plot and frame as the quintessential old-world fogey. After much talk, guilt and plot contrivances, O'Brien loses his nerve, Taylor loses the girl and Todd loses even more. Waterloo Bridge it ain't.

Very much an American take on the invasion (although in fact it deals primarily with a diversionary raid), Taylor's arrogance and the screenplay's clumsy culture clashes do give off an unfortunate aura of seeing the British as a bunch of ingrates who couldn't tie their shoelaces without help from the Yanks that is less than endearing. Sample dialogue: "I don't go for them Limeys. They talk fast, but fight slow." The Home Guard too are singled out for contempt. The very few other British to make it into the film are of the "Cor, luvaduck guv'nor" variety, although, to be fair, even fewer Germans are on view - while not exactly a cheapie, the budget obviously didn't extend to more than five German uniforms.

Despite director Henry Koster's limited visual imagination - if there are three people in any given shot, you can bet he'll line them up left, right and centre without fail - and a total absence of close-ups so prevalent in early widescreen pictures, the old-fashioned CinemaScope is a virtue and one of the chief reasons for buying this: with little in the way of battle scenes and much mushy stuff, this is more one for undemanding romantics and readers of Harlequin romances than the Boys Own brigade.

6JUN44....No doubt about it...the greatest day in modern/world history [then]...this movie depicts the lives of a few who lived in that momemtous moment in world/history...Capt Robert Taylor, an officer and a gentleman but ever-so-lonely away from his wife and family like all GIs...Richard Todd, a loyal Colonel in the British Commandos serving King and country with a maximum effort in combat...Dana Wynter, the daughter of a stern English Brigadier, beautiful, feminine and in love with Todd...and the guy who steals all of his scenes when the camera is on him[self]...Edmond O'Brien...his rakish portrayal as a blood and guts Lt. Colonel of a Special Service Unit to hit the D-Day beaches in advance of the enormous amphibious landing on that fateful day in Normandy...getting back to O'Brien's character which adds much to the military aspects of a egotistic loud/mouth and always looking for a headline that mortal combat is his rite of passage for his existence...his bedraggled/return to a safe harbor after the debacle at Dieppe was totally real...in a horse blanket for clothes and walking like he was on eggs/shells with that eternal thousand yard stare on his stunned kisser for having been blown out of his craft into the drink where he felt every German gunner was doing their utmost just to kill his lame-butt...he never got to the enemy shore!!....that's classic combat, I kid you naught...there are a zillion sweet romantic moments when Taylor can't get enough of Wynter [a torrid mutual cohabitation] is enchanting, yes,and even an enduring love... it is wartime England as bombs/rockets rain down on most of the port cities facing France...one must understand the frailty of human emotions to cram all the love and what it means to be love before one dies suddenly...which, is very heady existence, that only here and now is all that matters is conveyed so wonderful between Taylor and Wynter...even the officer: who Jerry Paris portrays is done extremely well as the cocktail/partying soldier who lives from one gin party/dance to another without any unpatriotic guilt whatsoever...I loved all the subplots that makeup how it was before D-Day and the GIs who were destined to be at this juncture of history...don't judge the lack of morals here unless you were "actually blown out of the water twice" ...darn good show of war and what it can do to soldier and citizens alike under fire.....Semper Fi....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

I love this movie - always have. I guess I'm more interested in the entertainment value than combat scenes (after all, "From Here to Eternity" is considered a classic and there is only a very small amount of combat at the end in that one as well). Of course, I would probably like any movie that had Dana Wynter, Robert Taylor and Richard Todd in it. Do I think this movie is Academy Award worthy? Of course not, but this movie is reminiscent of the old Hollywood love stories that I have enjoyed so much throughout my life and it has a wonderful cast.

I will ALWAYS check with the reviews here on Amazon before I purchase another "Classic War" movie. I purchased this at Suncoast video and was expecting an epic WWII movie, you can all imagine my disappointment after sitting through 1-1/2 hours of this mess.