D-Day in Hollywood
June 5, 2014
Two D-Day movies, in particular, have managed to stick in public memory: "The Longest Day" (1962), produced by Ken Annakin and starring John Wayne, and Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) featuring Matt Damon and Tom Hanks. The golden era of war movies – that is, Hollywood war movies - was during the 1950s. European producers, by contrast, showed much more restraint in tackling D-Day topics with the notable exception of French and British film makers.
"German producers dealing with D-Day tended to focus on the logistical aspects of the invasion," said Fabian Tietke, a film journalist who, as co-curator, helped put together a series of D-Day films in the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Military actions, however, hardly come up at all in these German films.
Gloryfying the winners
D-Day films, in short, seem to take the perspective of those who emerged victorious: "These movies are all triumphant in tone," film specialist Claus Löser told DW. “They are about showing the concentration of good forces at work, while settling old scores with the Nazis," he added.
A notable exception is director Bernhard Wicki who was one of the directors of "The Longest Day." Producer Darryl Zanuck saw himself forced to employ four directors at once to make sense of the mountain of documents relating to D-Day. Bernhard Wicki, renowned for his anti-war film "Die Brücke" (The Bridge), contributed sequences that highlighted the role of German soldiers.
War movies as operas
Zanuck had to make use of gigantic film production machinery if he was to paint a halfway realistic picture of historical scenes, said Löser. After all, with the advent of the television in the 1960s, the movie industry had a hard time competing. Movies such as "The Longest Day" were ultimately to impress audiences with their never-before-seen technology.
In spite of its monumental claims, "The Longest Day" presented a surprisingly differentiated view of things - dispensing with clichés. Furthermore, the film achieved yet another objective: "In the middle of the Cold War, the film served as a useful reminder of the last war - a hot one," said Claus Löser.
D-Day films as fodder for the audience
Less well-known nowadays are the D-Day films by Henry Hathaway and William A. Wellman, both classic Hollywood directors in their own right. Already two years after the end of World War II, Hathaway shot "13 Rue Madelaine," starring James Cagney. Back then, the historical events were still fresh in people's memory, says Löser. In "13 Rue Madelaine," for instance, German agents are shown spying out an American training camp.
Two years later, Wellman produced "The Battleground," featuring Germany's offensive in the Ardennes in 1944 and the heroic performance of Allied soldiers there. Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan," which came out in 1998, focused on the Allied advance through northern France. Spielberg‘s technically brilliant work set new standards for war films. A particular challenge for the audience was posed by the opening scene that depicts in shocking detail the landing of US forces in Normandy.
European D-Day-Films
In comparison, British and French D-Day films were less bombastic. The British low-budget film "Overlord," by Stuart Cooper (1975), narrates the fate of a young British soldier. After having undergone training for the war in northern France, he was shot dead by the German army while still sitting in his boat prior to landing on the coast. The film, which has set new aesthetic standards, has continued to leave a lasting impression on the audience until today, according to Claus Löser.
In 1966, French director René Clément shot "Paris brûle-t-il?" for domestic and international producers. The film portrays the weeks following the D-Day invasion, culminating in the liberation of Paris. German director Volker Schlöndorff recently picked up the same topic with his intimate play "Diplomatie." Whereas Cooper singled out the fate of individual soldiers, French D-Day films highlighted the role of French soldiers, while attaching more importance to the resistance movement under General de Gaulle. New films such as "Indigènes" (2006) by Rachid Bouchareb, a French director of Algerian origin, concentrate on the contribution of soldiers from former French colonies.
Focus on military history
Film curator Fabian Tietke recapitulates: "D-Day films were primarily military and war films," whereas the significance of D-Day as a historical turning point and the beginning of a new era was rather overlooked. "They all agreed on the details of military history," and less on the role of D-Day in the formulation of a new post-war order in Europe. It's not surprising, thus, that the Soviet film industry hasn't churned out any D-Day films at all.