D-Day 6.6.1944 (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Directors:

Richard Dale
Kim Bour

Writer:

Andrew Bampfield (writer)

Release Date:

5 June 2004 (Germany)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Plot:

Dramatised documentary, based on the experiences of the soldiers who invaded France in the D-Day Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 which were instrumental in ending World War II. |

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | D Day | Tank | Life Jacket | WWII

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ian Holm	...	Narrator (voice)
David Lyon	...	Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Tracey Moore	...	Kay Summersby
Graham McTavish	...	Group Capt. James Stagg
Mark McKerracher	...	Ike's aide
Albert Welling	...	Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Tim Bentinck	...	Lt. Gen. Hans Speidel (as Timothy Bentinck)
Robert Cambrinus	...	Rommel's Adjutant
Andrew Havill	...	Jake Westerman
Matthew Bose	...	Tomas Harris
Daniel Cerqueira	...	Garbo
Meritxell Lavanchy	...	Mrs. Garbo
Doug Rao	...	Robert Capa
Lucy Chalkley	...	Pinky
Alan Westaway	...	John Morris

Also Known As:

D-Day (UK)
D-Day: 6.6.44 (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Filming Locations:

HMS Belfast, Tooley Street, Southwark, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Goofs:

Continuity: Just before Rommel's departure, as he talks to Speidel in La Roche Gruyon, his lips don't match his voice.

Small-scale production tells large-scale story

D-DAY 6.6.1944

Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

The BBC's contribution to an international 60th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings takes most of its cues from the success of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) and BAND OF BROTHERS (2001), though Richard Dale's ambitious film rings the changes by combining documentary interviews with veterans of the conflict and dramatized reconstructions of events surrounding the Normandy landings. Andrew Bampfield's script emphasizes the petty bureaucracy which frustrated the efforts of front-line Germans, all of whom anticipated a large-scale invasion but were unable to equip themselves against such an eventuality because of Hitler's obsession with the ongoing conflict in Russia. Much is also made of a clever subterfuge in which the Allies managed to convince German authorities that the initial D-Day landings were little more than a diversion, the precursor of a much larger invasion.

The testimony of real-life survivors adds poignancy to the drama, especially during the film's closing stretch, when the toll on all sides becomes vividly clear. Few of the battle scenes are as visceral as those depicted in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but Dale and his production team work small miracles on a tenth of that film's budget, merging CGI and in-camera effects with near-seamless integrity. The documentary footage is directed by Kim Bour, Pamela Gordon and Sally Weale.

(English, German and French soundtrack)