I have spent years studying World War II, particularly in France. I have walked Omaha Beach and climbed the cliff - with no one shooting at me from the top. I have walked around the square in St. Mère Eglise. In other words, I know something about D-Day.
That allowed me to be impressed by Zanuck's effort to recreate a moment in history. But, with all due respect, this movie comes off, to me, as something of a dramatized documentary, a history lesson with cameos. It is great for learning about how we finally made it across Omaha Beach, for example, and up that cliff. But it pales next to the opening of *Saving Private Ryan* when it comes to making you feel as if you are there, one of those poor soldiers in the first waves trying to cross that beach.
The acting is all fine, the "staging" of the scenes, especially Omaha Beach, very impressive. I could have done without the brief cameos designed to make the French civilians look foolish, as in Bourvil's portrayal of the mayor of Courville.
You will learn a lot about D-Day from this movie - though not as much as if you read any good book on the subject. The movie, being a movie, leaves us with all sorts of questions. Like: why didn't the Allied air force destroy those pillboxes at the top of the Omaha Beach cliff before we landed on the beaches down below. Why didn't we have better info about German positions in the area? Etc.
That allowed me to be impressed by Zanuck's effort to recreate a moment in history. But, with all due respect, this movie comes off, to me, as something of a dramatized documentary, a history lesson with cameos. It is great for learning about how we finally made it across Omaha Beach, for example, and up that cliff. But it pales next to the opening of *Saving Private Ryan* when it comes to making you feel as if you are there, one of those poor soldiers in the first waves trying to cross that beach.
The acting is all fine, the "staging" of the scenes, especially Omaha Beach, very impressive. I could have done without the brief cameos designed to make the French civilians look foolish, as in Bourvil's portrayal of the mayor of Courville.
You will learn a lot about D-Day from this movie - though not as much as if you read any good book on the subject. The movie, being a movie, leaves us with all sorts of questions. Like: why didn't the Allied air force destroy those pillboxes at the top of the Omaha Beach cliff before we landed on the beaches down below. Why didn't we have better info about German positions in the area? Etc.