Product Description

This special collector's commemorative edition has been issued in honor of the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of France, which marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination over Europe. The attack involved 3,000,000 men, 11,000 planes and 4,000 ships, comprising the largest armada the world has ever seen.

The Longest Day is a vivid, hour-by-hour recreation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast, and told from the perspectives of both sides, it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations, mistakes, and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Winner of two 1962 Oscars® (Special Effects and Cinematography), The Longest Day ranks as one of Hollywood's truly great war films.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2230 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2006-05-23
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Black & White, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, German
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 178 minutes

Amazon.com
After seeing Saving Private Ryan, this epic tale about the Normandy invasion will look sanitized. But in its re-creation of events leading to the epochal battle, the film is captivating and grand, and the parade of famous actors who cross the screen naturally give the already charged action even more of a boost. Three directors worked on it: Ken Annakin (Battle of the Bulge), Andrew Marton (Crack in the World), and Bernhard Wicki (this film being his only credit). --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

a great ww2 movie
one of only 2 of my favorite war flicks.i was happy to find it on dvd here.

Great vehicle for exposing popular actors of the time.
This is a 1962 attempt to be an accurate rendition of D day, based on Cornelius Ryan's book, "The Longest Day", when the allied forces of world war two crossed the English Channel and fought their way up the beaches of France. The whole film is of the events of that day.

The list of popular actors playing the parts of the various countries and ethnicities of the time is too long to mention in this review. However Eddy Albert (a method actor) was quite believable and contributed much to the energy of this rendition. Be sure to see Eddy Albert again in uniform in "Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956.) And that little cutie Irina Demark was the girlfriend of the producer, Darryl F. Zanuck.

You can tell this picture was remastered some time recently as it looks as crisp as the day it was made. And you can only find a few missed specks on the Blu-ray rendition. The Blu-ray version has the obligatory voice-over recollections forom the only remaining director.

The film is a keeper and is worth the purchase.

The Teahouse Of The August Moon (DVD) Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford

Anamorphic presentation not well focused
After having purchased the non-anamorphic version of "The Longest Day", one of the truly great war epics, I recently purchased the two-disc "Cinema Classics Collection" and was sorely disappointed with lack of clarity of the image when viewed on a 46" Samsung LCD. Compared to excellent B/W DVD releases such as Warner's presentation of "Citizen Kane" (1941) or Criterion's release of David Lean's "Great Expectations" (1946), this Fox release of "Longest Day" is totally unacceptable. To make matters worse, this disc begins with a burst of noise accompanying a preview which cannot be defeated with the menu button. A real bummer over-all. How would the public feel if every music CD began with commercials for new CD releases? How are they getting away with this?

If, at the beginning of this practice, consumers returned dvd's with commercials on them to the manufacturers or the dealers, it probably could have been stopped fast. The outer packaging of such discs should at least contain a statement in easily readable lettering that this dvd contains advertising.