In celebration of the Normandy D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, this week’s review is the 1962 “Grandaddy of all war movies” The Longest Day. Legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck and directors Ken Annakin (British scenes), Andrew Marton (American scenes), Bernhard Wicki (German scenes) and an uncredited John Wayne bring Cornelius Ryan’s 1959 best selling novel to the big screen.

The Longest Day stars over forty two (at that time) of the most acclaimed international actors including Eddie Albert (Colonel Thompson, 29th U.S. Infantry Div.), Paul Anka (U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion), Richard Beymer (Pvt Arthur “Dutch” Schultz, 82nd Airborne Div.), Red Buttons, (Pvt. John Steele, 82nd Airborne Div.), Mel Ferrer (Major General Robert Haines) and Henry Fonda (Brig. General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Deputy Commander 4th U.S. Infantry Div.).

It also featured Jeffery Hunter (Sgt. (later Lt.) John Fuller), Roddy McDowall (Pvt. Morris, 4th U.S. Div.), Robert Mitchum (Brig. General Norman Cota, Asst. Commander 29th U.S. Infantry Div.), Robert Ryan (Brig. General James M. Gavin, Asst. Commander 82nd Airborne Div.), and the Duke himself, John Wayne as Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort, Commander 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Reg.

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This week’s pick is the 1969 Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Force 10 From Navarone) directed classic Battle of Britain, which depicts the valiant struggle of Great Britain’s Royal Air Force against the onslaught of the numerically superior German Luftwaffe during the summer of 1940. The film opens as France falls in May 1940, and the British and their allies avoid capture with the massive evacuation at the coastal city of Dunkirk. With time to regroup and strengthen their home defenses, the British lie and wait for Hitler’s forces to eventually invade England.

The film is told through a collection of fighter squadron groups (English and German) who are veterans in the skies over France and the low countries during early 1940. Like many films of the mid to late 1960′s, Battle of Britain has its fare share of brilliant English and German actors. Screen legend Sir Laurence Olivier leads the cast as Chief Air Marshal H.C. Dowding who helped to coordinate British forces to total victory in the battle.

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