Title:D-Day the Sixth of June By: Henry Koster Released by: 20th Century Fox Released on: 1956 Rating (out of 10): 4 Date: 01/04/2002
Robert Taylor, Dana Wynter, Richard Todd, Edmond O'Brien
Not Quite a Bomb, But...
How do you mix war, romance, and patriotism with purity? Not an easy combination, with all the tough-soldiers-and-easy-women stories that make proverbial the phrases, "A girl in every port," and "Find 'em, feed 'em, fuck 'em, forget 'em." In war movies, the guys are brave, and the gals offer their bodies for the comfort of the soldiers, so soon to face mortars and machine guns.
Alone of all the war films I've ever seen, D-Day, the Sixth of June tries hard to combine sexual innocence with patriotic wartime London. The story is so unrealistic, so high-minded and morally clean, that it's no wonder this particular outlook was never tried again in any major motion picture. If this movie is to be believed, only saints-in-training served in either the British or American armies; no hint of humanity, much less sin, is permitted a foothold in this shining example of Pure Love.
If made between 1939 and 1945, D-Day the Sixth of June would perhaps make some sense—best foot forward in the face of the enemy and all that. To my surprise, however, this black and white movie was released in 1956, fully eleven years after WWII ended. No stout hearts were in danger of corruption by the sight of realism in war films by then. So what strikes me most strongly about this one is its insistence, even so long after the War ended, on the all-around purity of Allied soldiers, both male and female.
The story is a simple one:
Valerie Russell (Dana Wynter) is an English Red Cross administrator of some kind, the daughter of a brigadier general and fiancee of an extremely brave Royal Army officer, John Wynter (Richard Todd). While Colonel Wynter is off fighting the Hun, she falls in love with a drafted American officer named Brad Parker (Robert Taylor) who's married with children back home. Because they're both upstanding people, they only kiss a few times--and never have sex.
When her fiancee is wounded, Valerie nurses him back to health. She tells him everything about her relationship with Parker, and he sees how dearly she loves her American. When he recovers, he's given command of Angel Point, a D-Day sortie, in which one of the men he commands is Parker. In his immense nobility, John deliberately steps on a land mine, leaving Valerie to have a good life with Brad.
Valerie, however, as noble as her late fiancee, can't bear the thought of Brad leaving his wife and children, so she doesn't tell him John's dead. Proving that Americans can be as self-sacrificing as the English, Brad (thinking John's still alive) sends her off to live happily ever after. John's honorably dead, Valerie is alone, and Brad flies home to America, where his family greets him with open arms.
Oh, isn't it wonderful how noble are all three of these people? One sacrifices her happiness for the benefit of her true love's home and family, the lover sacrifices his happiness for (what he thinks is) his lady's virtue, and the third person in this triangle suicides to make sure the other two can be happy together.
Hey, I like nobility and honor as much as the next person, but this is overbearing.
The acting in D Day, the Sixth of June ranges from exceptional to wretched. Dana Wynter is a beauty, but either she's a first-rate performer, or she's not acting at all; she's wonderfully low-key, as befits a well-bred Englishwoman. I like her style.
Likewise, Robert Taylor does a fine job as an Average Joe draftee American, always looking for a way to make the War less miserable than it is. He tends to the monotonal, though, as he does in all his movies, and that can get to be grating after a while. In his hands, the potential of a role as meaty as that of Brad Parker becomes, finally, an exercise in boredom.
Richard Todd, as Colonel John Wynter, is the worst of the major actors here. He takes overacting—brave, stiff-upper-lip, noble Englishman—to the extreme. Yes, I know D Day, the Sixth of June is meant to show off the very best of Allied character, but no one is that angelic.
Special bad notice to Edmond O'Brien, who plays Colonel Timmer. This guy, whether by his design or the director's, has made of his character a cliche—that of The Ugly American. Jingoism, loudness, drunken escapes, and a chronically stupid expression make of Timmer a bad joke that jangles badly against the quietness of the other characters.
On the technical front, there are ups and downs. The costumes, nearly contemporary to the action, are perfect. The right insignia, starched uniforms, and nice attention to detail make D Day... a costumer's dream film.
On the other hand, for a generation reared on Platoon, Hamburger Hill, and even Apocalypse Now, the battle scenes in this movie seem like a lighthearted nightmare. This is Battlefield Lite, folks, with no nasty blood and guts, no dirt out of place. Even the grass looks lovely! The beach used to portray Normandy is a perfect California vacation spot, all gleaming sand and artistically arranged rocks.
All the indoor shots (most of the movie) have the dead look of what they are: a Hollywood sound stage. The interiors look exactly alike, and it's sometimes hard to keep track of which place is being portrayed—the Red Cross Club, the Admiralty office, the American HQ, or a hotel.
So is there much of anything to make D Day, the Sixth of June worth watching? Not really, no. As an example of British nobility, this is top rate, and as proof of the determination to create a view of history where none existed, it's an interesting case in point. As a movie, though—an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours—I have to say NO, this just isn't worth the time.
