Longest Day, The / Von Ryan's Express / Tora! Tora! Tora! DVD

Advantages: Historically accurate, no bias, moving account
Disadvantages: None.

...Tora Tora Tora (Japanese for 'attack, attack, attack') and is the story of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. It is an unbiast, Anti- American even account, historiaclly correct, with a strong message. Unlike some war films, it is not 'US whups Japans ass' or 'Britain whups Hitlers ass', but more a moving account of the futility of war. Unusually for a war film, it has strong anti- war seams throughout, and is an excellent war film for doing so. It stars Martin Balsam, Soh Yamamura and E G Marshall, all of whom fit their charachters perfectly. It is Yamamuras performance as the battle- weary Yamamoto which is most excellent. Yamamotos undersyanding of the futility of attacking the United States runs thourgh his performance, and we soon see he is correct. The attack scenes are excellent for the day, and teh film is oen of my chocies... Read review

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Advantages: Best War Movie ever made!
Disadvantages: None

...This is quite simply the best War film ever made in my opinion.Deserved more than the two oscars it received(cinematography and special effects).The film chronicles the D-Day landings from the conception,planning, to the day itself on the 6th of June 1944 when the first of three million allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy.The attack involved eleven thousand planes and four thousand ships,comprising the biggest armada ever assembled.Told from both sides this film is factually correct and well acted by a brilliant cast including John Wayne, Robert Mitchum,Sophia Loren and Anton Diffring to name just a few.Also includes a great documentary "D-Day Revisited" plus the original Theatrical Trailer plus the trailers from "Tora! Tora! Tora! and "Patton".A Must have for any DVD collection!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Only major film to attempt to capture the scope and drama of D-Day
Disadvantages: None

...later executive produce the Japanese-American Pearl Harbor classic, Tora! Tora! Tora! The movie basically follows the book's structure in its three major acts: The Wait, about the preparations on both sides for the invasion; The Night, about the night airborne assault; and The Day, about the landings on the five invasion beaches. The DVD breaks these three acts into 12 chapters. While by early 21st Century standards The Longest Day's combat scenes are rather tame - there are no extremely gory scenes as explicit as those in Saving Private Ryan - they do capture the vastness and complexity of the Normandy landings. Shot in a semi-documentary style (major characters are introduced with identifying "credits" so we know who is who), The Longest Day is as accurate as a 1962-era film studio could depict an actual event. The black... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful