For many years, I avoided watching "D-Day the Sixth of June" because I assumed it was a film about the D-Day invasion. I was shocked to learn that it really was NOT about D-Day...and was much more a romance than a war film. What a surprise.

The film begins on a transport ship taking some commandos on a raid just before the main D-Day attack. A British officer (Richard Todd) and an American one (Robert Taylor) meet each other for the first time and they both realize they have something in common...they are in love with the same woman. The film then does a brief flashback about the relationship between Todd and Dana Wynter and a much longer flashback about the relationship between Taylor and Wynter. The latter is complicated because Taylor's character happens to be married.

This film plays more like a soap opera in many ways than a war film. In this sense, it's a bit similar to "From Here to Eternity"....though a bit less grand in scope. After all, the battle sequences consists of a few dozen men at a time and lacks the scope of the attack on Pearl Harbor in "From Here to Eternity". However, they both are very good films...soap and all.

Overall, this is a very good film despite the ubiquitous use of the song "You Never Know"...a song you come to hate after a while. Still, very well made and worth seeing.

D-DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE is a slightly nauseating gung-ho Hollywood version of the famous battle, bogged down in a bog-standard love triangle which occupies much of the running time. The British forces, in the form of Richard Todd, are shown as heroic but slightly stiff, while the Americans, in the form of Robert Taylor, are down to earth and affable. Dana Wynter is the girl caught between the two but the love triangle material couldn't be any less interesting if it tried. The battle scene at the climax is badly handled and staged in the dark for the most part, and the most fun I got out of this was John Williams' (DIAL M FOR MURDER) wry turn as the brigadier. If you want the definitive D-Day picture, look no further than THE LONGEST DAY.

It's rather strange watching D DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE in 2005 because what strikes you is that it's a war movie made with a female audience in mind . Maybe it wasn't so strange at the time because a large proportion of the female population in Britain at the time could probably relate to having both a British boyfriend and an American lover on the go at the same time , but still the thought of a war movie marketed towards women seems somewhat bizarre since it's a genre most females seem to dislike . For example has anyone seen the comments on BLACK HAWK DOWN from teenage girls confessing they went to the cinema simply to see Orlando Bloom and had to endure two hours of on screen carnage ?

My problem D DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE is that it's an American movie . Nothing wrong with that since the Yanks make better films than anyone else but since it's based on actual events it's a very poor history lesson . For example we cut via flashback to a radio broadcast in 1942 stating that because of American involvement in North Africa the campaign was now a foregone conclusion . I will state truthfully that Britain couldn't have won the second world war without American assistance , but we won the Battle of Britain without American assistance and in 1941 British Commonwealth forces numbering 36,000 managed to hold back an Italian army numbering 400,000 in North Africa , while the decisive battle in the region at El Alamein was an entirely British commonwealth victory save for some equipment that was made in America . Watching this movie you're led to believe that the Brits didn't have a clue what they were doing unless they had expert help from Uncle Sam . Britain spent almost two years alone fighting the Axis powers , which is not something you'd learn from this movie

There areone or two good points . One is Richard Todd's performance as a British para . Todd spent the second world war as an officer in the parachute regiment and took part in the D Day landings himself so he gives method acting a whole new meaning , though his character isn't on screen as much as he should have been . Despite being filmed 50 years ago the long awaited battle scenes are good and must have been outstanding in their day , and lastly despite having an American bias this movie occasionally points out the Canadian contribution to the Second world war something that THE LONGEST DAY negates somewhat