Longest Day

[TXGunNut]

Good for this weekend, lest we forget. Wasn't thinking about the calendar when I slid this movie into the player last night. Watched it again tonight. War was different back then. Lots of big stars in this movie made less than 20 yrs after the Normandy invasion. Every one of them proud to pay tribute to the people who fought and died that day.
I hope we never have to expend so many good men to win a battle. I hope we have the courage to do so if the need arises.

[smokeywolf]

Good for this weekend, lest we forget. Wasn't thinking about the calendar when I slid this movie into the player last night. Watched it again tonight. War was different back then. Lots of big stars in this movie made less than 20 yrs after the Normandy invasion. Every one of them proud to pay tribute to the people who fought and died that day.
I hope we never have to expend so many good men to win a battle. I hope we have the courage to do so if the need arises.

War was war then. Ever since, those in power and those who control those in power, won't allow any military conflict in which we're involved to be "declared" a "war". History shows that when the American people are told that America is at war, there is a great outpouring of patriotism and the American people just may demand that it be won. Threats justify higher security, which translates into greater control of the masses. Wars are profitable. Winning them is not.

[OS OK]

In a declared war any spoils and the rebuilding or punishment of the loosing Nation is determined by the Laws set forth governing how wars are fought. The Geneva Convention.
Todays wars are police actions etc. are all cake decorating hiding the real reasons for the action…"To clear the way for International Corporations to go in and gobble up the loosing Nations resources for their own private benefit."
Look back as far as Teddy Roosevelt who went to Cuba to liberate the people from Spain's overpowering influence…yeah that was a moral sounding reason…but if you'll will notice, there was an American Sugar Magnate there also who was going to loose his investments along with other American Corporate interest.
Oil is the major concern today…who has and controls it rules as much as who controls the money supply. Have you wondered why oil is so low today? Manipulation of this market has made it too costly for Venezuela to pump their oil from the ground…they are collapsing at this very moment, people are starving, food markets empty, hospitals with no medicine and nobody has electricity.

War…the downfall of mankind.

[Blackwater]

Good post. I will always be awed at how many fine young men willingly threw themselves into the hail of fire that awaited them on those beaches. I will always be humbled by what they did, and rightfully so. There's a reason history isn't taught in our schools today. It'd make "governing" us as they want to SO much more difficult if we realized the full extent of the possibilities we as a people truly possess.

The Founders wrote about this, but it's not PC for us to know about "little" things like that today. Ain't it funny how all that works together?

[oldred]

By coincidence I too watched that Movie again last night, came across it on Netflix and hadn't found anything else to watch but I enjoyed it again for an unknown number of times including when it was on the theaters at the time of release!

The one thing that has always disappointed me is that considering the extravagant cost of all the props, filming locations, research and the staggering cost it must have been to pay such a list of top names then just why the dickens did they shoot it in B&W??? :roll:

[Echo]

By coincidence I too watched that Movie again last night, came across it on Netflix and hadn't found anything else to watch but I enjoyed it again for an unknown number of times including when it was on the theaters at the time of release!

The one thing that has always disappointed me is that considering the extravagant cost of all the props, filming locations, research and the staggering cost it must have been to pay such a list of top names then just why the dickens did they shoot it in B&W??? :roll:
B&W has more impact than color - look at some B&W movies of the near past. When done by great directors, with great actors, they stood out. For example - "Schindler's List"...

[Bent Ramrod]

I remember hearing that Darryl Zanuck filmed the movie in black and white because he wasn't sure the color processes of the time were up to the scale and scope of the movie he wanted to make. In later years, he was heard to say that one of his worst mistakes as a filmmaker was not making The Longest Day in color.

[smokeywolf]

I remember hearing that Darryl Zanuck filmed the movie in black and white because he wasn't sure the color processes of the time were up to the scale and scope of the movie he wanted to make. In later years, he was heard to say that one of his worst mistakes as a filmmaker was not making The Longest Day in color.

Color motion picture film processing has been in existence since before WW I. Right off the top of my head, I can think of 3 big budget "A" title movies that came well before "The Longest Day" and were shot in color; "Gone With The Wind", "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben Hur".

I strongly suspect there were other factors that had far greater influence on the Director(s) choosing to shoot in B&W. Also, since that decision is typically left to the Director and although Zanuck was listed as a uncredited Director, he had virtually no experience Directing.
I think Zanuck was Producer on something in the neighborhood of 200 movies. He was a uncredited Director on 3. He was a business man, a Producer (the money man).

Another very good film of life and battle during WW II is, "In Harm's Way". Released in 1965 (3 years after "The Longest Day") and shot in B&W.

[Don Purcell]

I've heard it said that "The Longest Day" makes you wish you were there and "Saving Private Ryan" makes you glad you weren't.

[oldred]

B&W has more impact than color - look at some B&W movies of the near past. When done by great directors, with great actors, they stood out. For example - "Schindler's List"...


That of course depends entirely on the viewer and their tastes, I am willing to bet that a great majority would opt for the color version had there been a choice when it was released and likely even a colorized version of the B&W would be a popular choice even today despite the obvious flaws of that process.

Directors and producers have some really weird ideas it seems as evidenced by the totally absurd trend of the last few years to shoot movies with a stupid dark tint or either blue or orange depending on the movie theme, some movies are almost unwatchable due to this nonsense! What the heck is wrong with natural color? We spend money for large screen TVs with resolution that is almost capable of real-life experience yet those idiots in Hollywood rarely show real color and brightness! Most dramas or action movies are dark and dreary with a blue tint that leaves nothing looking real, a screaming example of the problem is obvious in one of the more recent Robin Hood movies, dark and dreary and everything is seen through that ridiculous blue tint until the movie ends and the last couple of minutes are shot in real-life color, the difference is astounding!

[AggieEE]

Having taken B&W pictures as well as color, B&W makes you thing about texture and composition. Watch "Citizen Cane" and see what Wells did with just lighting. Also Hitchcock.

[Bent Ramrod]

The color process that might have been affordable at the time might not have been satisfactory. The Studio was hemmorrhaging money from the megadud Cleopatra, which only made its nut after decades on TV, and they may have been weighing economies for The Longest Day. It's my understanding that they were desperate for a box-office hit to offset the ridiculous salaries, sets and reshooting that Cleopatra was undergoing.

People like Orson Welles could use B&W to set moods and artistry, but the average B&W movie would probably do just as well in color, if the costumes and set designs aren't too chintzy. Color really brings out cheap interiors and Halloween class costumes. But B&W in new movies only has the effect it has because we are so used to color, or enhanced color, as oldred points out. I notice that more in TV shows set in Hawaii and Florida. Everything's so vivid, you'd think you were on an acid trip.

[rondog]

Iron Maiden meets Saving Private Ryan.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSJ8rDlBZ_I