|  | But how do films like The Longest Day and the more recent Saving Private Ryan (whose first 15 minutes show a completely no-holds-barred depiction of D-Day) stand-up to this sort of 21st century competition?
 | | The Longest Day: "Magisterial" |
Pretty well, actually, says Tony Earnshaw, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television's Head Film Programmer and Director of the Bradford Film Festival, what he thinks about these celluloid classics! In fact, he thinks The Longest Day is the best of the best...
Why is The Longest Day such a good D-Day film?
TONY: It is the most appropriate D-Day film because it encapsulates the entire picture. It's a three hour film and covers the D-Day invasion from the British, American, French and German perspective.
It's shot with an eye on a documentary feel and is in black and white. It was made only 15 years after the war and everything is still vivid in peoples' minds. It was shot in the original languages so the French speak French and the Germans speak German. All the actors are from those nationalities. It is based on arguably the best book on D-Day - The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan and it's extremely believable.
Is it the sort of film that will attract audiences brought up on computer games where you can actually take part?
TONY:Whether it will attract younger audiences depends on whether they're film literate. Anyone expecting to see something like Saving Private Ryan will be disappointed because it's not that type of film. It tips its hat to veterans by not showing people getting blown up.
So what about Saving Private Ryan?
 | | The Longest Day: THE great ware epic? |
TONY:Saving Private Ryan is a fictional film about D-Day and it's told entirely from an American perspective. All the Germans are bad guys and have no character. The British are mentioned once. The Americans land on the beach but it doesn't matter that a few miles down the beach the Canadians, Australians, British and trench are landing. It's a purely American film.
The Longest Day is very much an international way of telling the story, it was conceived as the great war epic, most of the movies out during the war were propaganda films, The Longest Day was there to tell a story.It would be magisterial, panoramic, spectacular and huge because D-Day was huge they realised to tell the story truthfully they would have to tell it on a vast canvas.
Recently there's been the much-acclaimed Band Of Brothers on the BBC. How does that compare?  | | Tom Hanks: Star of Private Ryan and co-producer of Band Of Brothers |
TONY: Men who served in D-Day were called in as advisors. Every single face you see is a face of the era, and that's how it was planned - a vast production to pay tribute to a vast endeavour.
D-Day turned the course of the war, The Longest Day turned the course of films because nothing would ever be that big again, and nothing has.
These were the best, what about the rest?
TONY Other D-Day films include D-Day 6th June and a low budget British film from 1975 in black and white called Overlord. An interesting one is the story of a headmaster who was a crossword compiler and nearly every code word the allies were using appeared in his crosswords and it was all coincidence - all the names of the beaches - Juno, Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, the name of the operation - Overlord. MI5 were going bananas! But it turns out he was just a guy who happened to come across these words.
Is there a place for a new type of movie for younger people? Do they want to see stuff about World War Two?
 | | "There'll always be an audience for this type of movie" |
TONY: There will always be an audience for this type of movie. It's a matter of what direction you take in telling the story, whether it's a gruesome ultra-realistic film like Saving Private Ryan or whether you take a more disciplined approach telling the story through survivors and having them reminiscing. I'm not sure the documentary approach sells itself to kids anymore because they're used to big bangs and special effects.
And which is your favourite World War Two film?
TONY: My favourite war film is something totally unbelievable and wouldn't happen in real life and that's Where Eagles Dare. One of the best isn't actually a war film, it's the aftermath of war and shows veterans coming back to their lives. It's called Best Years Of Our Lives. It's the story of a flyer, soldier and sailor all coming back to a small American town and finding out whether they fit in again and it's a real tear-jerker.
Want to know more about The Longest Day? Take a look at the National Museum of Photography, Film and TV's website to hear from one of the film's stars, Richard Todd, who talks about his experiences of both making the film and defending Pegasus Bridge as a member of the parachute regiment on D-Day.
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