Zwischen Himmel und Hölle

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.

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.

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 .

The main issue i have with this film is that 98% of the film has nothing to do with D-DAY , it's about two officers on a boat talking about their romance with a woman. If the film had suggested that this would be the story that would have made it much better like if the title had been say "Two soldiers and a lady" that would have been good but calling it D-day the sixth of June is just totally wrong. It's like calling Manhunter the life of Hannibal Lector (for those of you who didn't get that joke Hannibal only shows up for about five minutes in Manhunter). Aside from the title being wrong the story is really uninteresting mainly because you want the film to show you you the bits with D-day in them because that's what the film has promised in the title but it never bloody shows them. If you want a really boring melodrama about love then yeah it's for you but other wise don't watch it and ignore the title completely.

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