D-DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE (1956)

The men of Special Force Six are heading for Normandy to be among the first soldiers to make the D-Day landing. The leader, British officer Richard Todd, interacts a bit awkwardly with American Robert Taylor. As we soon discover, the two have something in common besides a dangerous mission: they are both in love with the same woman. In a first brief flashback set in 1942, Todd is having a short visit with his gal, Dana Wynter, whose father is a brusque brigadier (John Williams) who is not happy about 1) being put out of commission after being injured at Dunkirk, and 2) the rowdy behavior of American soldiers in England. Todd and Wynter part sadly, making promises of love. Then we're in Taylor's flashback; a married newspaper publisher back in the States, he is stationed in England as an assistant to Lt. Col. Edmond O'Brien. When word gets to O'Brien about an altercation between some Yanks and the unfriendly brigadier, Taylor is sent to smooth things over and winds up striking some sparks with Wynter, now working a nurse and who suspects that Todd may have been killed in a North African mission. Though he's honest about his marital status, the two slowly begin a romantic relationship. Eventually a wounded Todd gets sick leave and returns to see Wynter, but he overhears two nurses referring to Wynter's American boyfriend, and is soon put in charge of Special Force Six when O'Brien suffers a breakdown. Back to the sixth of June, when actions on the beach may determine the outcome of the romantic triangle.

Notice that I barely mention D-Day in the above summary. Odd, given that the military operation is the title of the movie. But, in fact, this isn’t really about D-Day; it's a wartime romantic melodrama sold falsely as a combat film. Yes, we see some action on the beach in the last 15 minutes, but it's over and done with fairly quickly. If this film had a different title, the lack of war scenes might not be so bothersome. However, even taken as a war romance picture, it has problems. The biggest is that the wooden Robert Taylor is the focus of the film. Poor Richard Todd, a handsome and capable actor who is second billed to Taylor, is left with scraps; he seems to get less screen time than supporting actor Edmond O'Brien, whose storyline is not terribly involving and often feels like padding. Though Wynter and Taylor have little chemistry, she does a nice job almost single-handedly making us care about the couple. Williams is fine in a brief but showy role, and other good support comes from Jerry Paris, Ross Elliott, and Robert Gist. I admit I like the ending, which, despite the death of one of the two men, doesn't actually (in my reading) resolve the triangle completely. Pictured are Todd and Taylor. [TCM]