The Longest Day (20th Century Fox) (1962)

Star-Studded ‘Longest Day’ Tribute To WW II Heroes Steve Forrest, John Wayne, Tom Tryon and Stuart Whitman, as officers of the 82nd Airborne Division, are shown discussing an assault on Omaha Beach in this scene from Darryl F. Zanuck’s awardwinning production of “The Longest Day,” the epic screen account of the Allied invasion of Normandy being presented for the first time at popular prices...... at the .... Theatre in conjunction with international observance of the 20th anniversary of D-Day. The painstakingly accurate re-creation of D-Day is based on the Cornelius Ryan best-seller. Mat 3A ‘The Longest Day,’ Classic Re-Creation of Normandy Invasion, Returns To Salute 20th D-Day Anniversary Capturing on the screen the monumental and gripping human story of the 24 hours of June 6, 1944, that changed the course of history, Darryl F. Zanuck’s epic production of “The Longest Day” once again will provide motion picture audiences with an unprecedented front-rew seat for the Allied invasion of Normandy when it opens....... at the versary of D-Day. The 20th Century-Fox pr Lanuck’s Longest’ Doubles His Duties Typical of the total dedication which Darryl F. Zanuck brought to his $10,000,000 production of “The Longest Day,” the international award-winning dramatization of the Allied invasion of Normandy openita aay at the Theatre as part of a world-wide salute to the 20th anniversary of D-Day, was his decision to direct some of the film’s sequences himself. During the more than ten months of actual filming, Zanuck used five distinguished international directors to handle his 42 stars and thousands of combat troops in the vast variety of location sequences. However, in the studio scenes involving his American stars, Zanuck decided to take over. Zanuck also handled the directorial chores on most of the scenes involving his new star, Irina Demich. Parisian fashion model cast in the role based on the most noted heroine of the French Resistance. Longest Day’ Scorns Score, Color Gripping newsreel realism was achieved by producer Darryl F. Zanuck in the epic screen presentation of “The Longest Day,” opening...... at the LS. 2 Theatre to coincide with international commemoration of the 20th anniversary of D-Day, by eliminating the use of color and a musical score. “I made tests in color and the ocean looked too blue and the blood too red,” explained Zanuck. “Besides I have an aversion to seeing Gls in steel helmts with make-up on their faces. “For the most part I was also content to let the sounds of war and the voices of men be my music. However, I did have Paul Anka write a rousing theme song which I used under certain sequences.” Anka is one of the 42 international stars topcast in the award-winning 20th Century-Fox release. ‘The Longest Day’ Marks Acting ‘Plunge’ For Sleek, Chic Model “The Longest Day,” the award-winning Darryl F. Zanuck film epic which opens at the 2 We bee eee (ERO ORs 8 9 ig O58) ens © Theatre in conjunction with world-wide commemoratien of the 20th anniversary of D-Day, marked the screen debut of a sleek Parisian high fashion model who had aspired to an acting career but never expected to start right out at the top. Stunning, red-headed Irina Demich had been a_ topflight model for Givenchy and Dior when producer Zanuck discovered her at a_ party and singled her out for the only important female role in his monumental screen version of Cornelius Ryan’s vivid, best-selling account of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The key distaff role in the picture, which has only six female parts, is that of “Janine Boitard,” a courage Irina Demich, vivacious Parisian fashion model, made her screen debut as a heroine of the French Resistance in Darryl F. Zanuck’s classic screen account of the Allied invasion of Normandy, “The Longest Day,” The 20th Century-Fox epic is opening... . at the Theatre in commemoration of the 20th anniver sary of D-Day. Mat IE ous member of the French resistance, modeled on a real heroine, Madame Leonard Gille, who saved 68 Allied flyers during the war. Featured in that role, Irina was the only unknown in the film’s impressive list of 42 international stars. And that was exactly the way Zanuck wanted it. “I needed a fresh, new face,” he said. “I didn’t want someone who had been typed long ago. I felt that Irina had every chance of becoming a great new screen personality.” And the beautiful young lady, flashing dark eyes that reflect her moods and emphasize a vivacious appeal that mocks the artificiality of many of her contemporaries, literally plunged right into her screen career. On her very first day before the cameras the script called for her to fall into the chilly Eure River in Louviers, France, after a struggle with a German soldier. The same day’s schedule also called for her to speak her first lines in English. “[ didn’t mind falling into the river,” said Irina, “but the thought of speaking English frightened me. I had to give a password to a French parachutist. It was a French word, ‘Bastille,’ and I pronounced it in the French way and had to be corrected by director Ken Annakin.” However, when audiences saw the French beauty on the screen for the first time in 1962, during the roadshow release of “The Longest Day,” they were far more concerned with her slim-trim 5-foot-5 figure than her accent. Born in 1937 at Seine-et-Marne near Paris, Irina is the daughter of Russian emigrants and was conventeducated before commencing on her modelling career. “I always wanted to act,” she confesses, “but I never thought I would start out in such an important part.” Herculean Effort Required To Film ‘The Longest Day’ ‘General Eisenhower had both the men and the arms. [had to find mine for the film,” remarked Darryl F. Zanuck in summing up the staggering problems that confronted him when he set out to produce “The Longest Day,” Cornelius Ryan’s gripping, best-selling account of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War I. acest John Wayne portrays an 82nd Airborne officer in Darryl F. Zanuck’s “The Longest Day,” the sereen classic dramatizing the Allied invasion of Normandy during WoWrld War II. The 20th Century-Fox film will open... .. at the Theatre in conjunction with world-wide observance of the 20th anniversary of D-Day. Mat 1A Longest’ Armies Eat Up Budget That an army travels on its stomach was proved again during the filming of Darryl F. Zanuck’s $10,000,000 award-winning production of “The Longest Day,” the gripping account of D-Day opening AtAblesy.e3 Theatre in honor of the 20th anniversary of D-Day. Thousands of American, British, French and German soldiers were used to re-stage the D-Day invasion scenes on the beaches of Normandy. During months on location the 63,000 full meals and 145,000 bottles of wine, beer and soft drinks consumed during filming cost $968,000—almost one-tenth of the war epic’s total budget! “The Longest Day,” named “Best Picture of the Year” in 1962 by the National Board of Review and winner of innumerable international honors, comes to the screen for the first time at popular prices at the Theatre, in conjunction with world-wide commemoration of the 20th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. With the same determination that has distinguished his long production career — and $10,000,000, Zanuck found his men and his material and his re-staging of the vast and varied canvas that was D-Day is an epic screen achievement. “Since we were dealing with offcers and men from the U. S., Great Britain, France and Germany, we had to have four sets of actors,” Zanuck explained at the time. “We assembled an international cast of 42 stars and there were 167 speaking parts. However, even this is somewhat misleading when you consider that in one scene alone—on Sword Beach—I used 2,000 men in combat. “The biggest problem we had to face, once we had our ‘men,’ was rounding up the ordnance materials. Fortunately, the various governments cooperated magnificently and, even though much of the 1944 equipment is outdated today, we were able to get thousands of guns, boats, tanks, trucks and uniforms we needed.” Zanuck’s insistence on using the actual locales for the various incidents that make “The Longest Day” such a vivid recounting of D-Day created another problem. Time had healed some of Normandy’s wounds. “For instance,” recalled Zanuck, “at Pointe du Hoc we found that the shell-torn area above the cliffs along with the German bunkers and trenches had been completely oversrown. We received permission from the French army to use flame throwers to clear the area and restore it to its original look. “We did everything humanly possible to make “The Longest Day’ authentic in every respect. We could have saved a lot of money if we could have used newsreel shots, but very little footage exists that was actually shot on the beaches at D-Day, so we re-enacted every scene. “We wanted to make a _ picture concerned with the human side of the invasion.” Theatre in conjunction with world-wide observance of the 20th anni esentation is a $10,000,000 dramatization of Cornelius Ryan’s best-selling account based on interviews with over 3,000 D-Day participants from both sides. Because there were no cameras to record the actual invasion and the thovsands of human incidents of that historic day, Zanuck assembled 42 international stars for the most important of the 167 speaking parts and housands of combat troops to re-stage on actual invasion sites a panoramic look at the events as seen through the eyes of the men who were there. Richard Burton is one of the 42 international stars spotlighted in Darryl F. Zanuck’s award-winning production of Cornelius Ryan’s “The Longest Day,” a gripping account of the first 24 hours of the Allied invasion of Normandy. The epic film opens cde etsirsta ts atthe ...... Theatre as a salute to the 20th anniver sary of D-Day. Mat 1G Hope For Future In Longest Day’ Although it is being re-released internationally as part of world-wide ceremonies honoring the 20th anniversary of D-Day, producer Darryl F. Zanuck does not regard his awardwinning, $10,000,000 production of Cornelius Ryan’s “The Longest Day” as a “so-called war picture.” Speaking of the gripping motion picture epic, Zanuck says: “The picture is not a so-called war picture, but is primarily concerned with the human side of the invasion. “While ‘The Longest Day’ is not a message picture, I think that all films which are made on such a scale and with so much effort must say something. Certainly ‘The Longest Day’ does. Of course, it speeaks of the courage of the men who fought and died on the beaches and it speaks of the bitterness and tragedy of war. But, in a larger sense, I think the picture has a terribly important mes There were no cameras clicking on the night before the assault as the French underground prepared to sabotage the German communication network; as gliders filled with paratroopers began their silent journey across the Channel; as General Eisenhower made his crucial decision to attack despite bad weather. All of this is part of the enormous canvas of “The Longest Day” as it unfolds on the screen. Not a foot of “library’—or wartime newsreel—film is used in “The Longest Day.” Heightening the historic and dramatic values of the film is the fascinating insight into the seemingly incredible German errors. German intelligence had broken the Allied code and actually knew the hours, if not the places, where the invasion would occur. But the German high command refused to act. Hitler slept until the early afternoon on D-Day, and Field Marshal von Runstedt was unable to get the vaunted Panzer reserves to the front in time. Months of painstaking preparation preceded the two years required for actual production of the film. As Zanuck himself put it: “General Eisenhower had his men and materiel. I had to find mine for the film.” Outstanding cooperation by the American, British, French and German governments aided Zanuck in his herculean efforts to gather the fleets of ships, squadrons of outdated planes, tanks ana trucks and _ the thousands of combat troops to support his all-star cast. Special permission was obtained to restore German bunkers and trenches, shell-torn terrain and battered buildings — many scars long since healed by time—along the Normandy coast. Entire villages were evacuated for weeks at a time while battles were re-staged and the Normandy skies lit up at night as glider and paratroop landings were re-created at their original sights in the deadly glare of “enemy” fire. John Wayne, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Stuart Whitman, Rod Steiger, Tom Tryon, Peter Lawford, Fabian, Tommy Sands, Robert Ryan, Paul Anka, Curt Jurgens, Richard Todd and Red Buttons are among the international stars portraying key figures in “The Longest Day.” sage for all of us. It will be a reminder that the Allies, who stood together, can do it again. It is a thing worth remembering when our way of life is threatened again.” Peter Lawford, Richard Todd and Frank Howard team up in one of the gripping battle sequences that are the fabric of Darryl F. Zanuck’s sweeping re-staging of the Allied invasion of Normandy, “The Longest Day.” The award-winning 20th Century-Fox production will open Fae ee at the eriere je: e ea«2 to the 20th anniversary of D-Day. Theatre as part of an international salute Mat 2G