The Longest Day - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Longest Day or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Longest Day

[ethel]

The film features two German commanders who were later executed - Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Werner Hinz) and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl (Woflgang Lukschy, uncredited). Rommel was implicated in a plot to assassinate Hitler in July 1944, a month and a half after D-Day, and was given the choice of suicide, with a hero's funeral and protection for his family, or a disgraceful death following a show trial. He chose the former. Jodl was one of two high-ranking Wehrmacht general staff officers to face trial at Nuremburg after the war. He was found guilty of war crimes, and hanged by the Allies in October of 1946. Jodl was later declared not guilty of war crimes by a West German court in 1953, although this verdict was overturned following pressure from the United States.

[phyllis]

The casino featured in the Ouistreham sequence was in fact a hotel in Port-en-Bessin, a town on the Normandy coast that marked the dividing line between Gold and Omaha beaches. At the time of filming, the hotel was due for demolition and was destroyed as part of the production. The site is now a car park, and is marked by an information board.

[ella]

Motörhead frontman Lemmy once referred to this as being one of his favorite films.

[dustin]

It only took four days to shoot John Wayne's cameo, although it was one of the more lengthy of all of the cameos in the movie.

[albert]

Bryan Coleman (Ronald Callen) served in the British Army during WW2 and took part in the D-Day landings.

[javier]

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck paid Cornelius Ryan $175,000 for the screen rights to his book.

[sandra]

One of the first World War II films made by an American studio in which the members of each country spoke nearly all their dialogue in the language of that country: the Germans spoke German, the French spoke French, and the Americans and the British spoke English. There were subtitles on the bottom of the screen to translate the various languages. There were two versions of the film, one where all the actors spoke English and the other (the better known one) where the French and German actors spoke their respective languages.

[jesus]

Darryl F. Zanuck and Cornelius Ryan collaborated on the screenplay, even though they hated each other almost from the first time they met. It was up to producer Elmo Williams to mediate between the two and keep the peace.

[terry]

George Segal later said he thought Robert Mitchum was an anti-Semitic bigot.

[wesley]

In researching his contribution to the script, Romain Gary uncovered one of Cornelius Ryan's mistakes: the casino at Ouistreham had not existed on 5/6/1944. Since the casino set had already been built, however, the scene taking place there was filmed anyway.

[elmer]

Just before shooting began in Corsica, producer Darryl F. Zanuck was approached by a man stating he represented the beach owners. He insisted on a $15,000 payment, or else they would drive modern cars along the beach. Zanuck paid the money, but it was later discovered to be a scam as there were no private beaches in Corsica. Zanuck eventually won damages after an eight-year lawsuit.

[violet]

Richard Todd (Maj. John Howard, Officer Commanding D Company of The 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Air Landing Brigade, 6th Airborne Division) was in Normandy on D-Day and participated as Capt. Todd of the 7th Parachute Battalion, 5th Parachute Brigade, British 6th Airborne Division. His battalion went into action as reinforcements, via a parachute jump (after the gliders had landed and completed the initial main assault). Todd was moved from the plane, from which he was originally scheduled to jump, to another. The original plane was shot down, killing everyone on board.

[veronica]

The piper who played the bagpipes as Lord Lovat's commandos stormed ashore is played by the late Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, who was at the time Pipe Major of the London Scottish Pipe Band, and personal piper to Her Majesty the Queen Mother. The actual man who did this stirring deed on D-Day was Bill Millin. He donated that same set of pipes to the national war memorial in Edinburgh Castle.

[linda]

Robert Mitchum and Curd Jurgens previously starred together in another WWII film, The Enemy Below (1957).

[brent]

Although they were the only allied troops to achieve their objective on D-Day, the Canadians at Juno hardly get a mention.

[fred]

Leslie Phillips only has one line in the film.

[kenneth]

After D-Day the Sixth of June (1956), this was the second film about the Normandy landings in which D-Day veteran Richard Todd (Major John Howard) appeared.