--- title: "The Longest Day: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-longest-day/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-longest-day" critics_score: 64 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Longest Day (1962): what the critics said Critics' score 64 from 7 reviews: 3 positive, 2 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics come down mildly in favour, and what they agree on is the size of the thing. The reviews praise the scale of the D-Day recreation, the well-staged battle sequences and the decision to tell the story from several national viewpoints at once. The newsreel-style black-and-white photography and the enormous cast are singled out more than once, and several critics find the combat as effective as anything in later war films. The reservations cluster around people rather than spectacle. Most critics find the characters thin, the vignettes between battles heavy-handed and the national stereotypes crude, and almost everyone thinks it too long. The spread is wide, from warm to hostile. The New Yorker finds it technically impressive but emotionally distant and, finally, dull, and Eye for Film thinks the parade of star cameos and a disjointed structure sink its grand intentions. Radio Times, though positive, also complains of overacting from the European players. ## Variety Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1961. The review praises the film as a solid and stunning war epic that details the D-Day landings through personal vignettes and big battles, emerging as an effective grand-scale semi-fictionalized documentary. It highlights the capture of war's savage fury and the massive action sequences as standout elements. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1961/film/reviews/the-longest-day-1200420071/) ## Radio Times — Allen Eyles Rating 4/5. The epic benefits from its huge budget, star power, military cooperation and innovative multi-national viewpoint structure, enhanced by newsreel-style black-and-white photography and well-staged battles. It is undermined by overacting from many European performers, crude characterisation and pretentious vignettes. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-0cvxxw/the-longest-day/) ## Empire — Clark Collis Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic describes the film as a heartfelt recreation of the D-Day landings that is every bit as memorable as more modern depictions, despite its length, and praises its epic scope and impressive cast. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/longest-day-review/) ## The AV Club — Tom Breihan Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2019. The critic notes that the war itself is the star of this impersonal epic, praising its scale and multi-perspective approach but complaining about the lack of memorable characters and how it has dated compared to later war films. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/despite-its-battalion-of-hollywood-actors-the-war-is-t-1834680852) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The film stands as one of the last true war epics thanks to its massive scale, all-star cast and source material. It delivers spectacle, heroism and some humour but is hampered by excessive length and heavy-handed national stereotypes. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-longest-day) ## The New Yorker — Brendan Gill Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 1962. The critic views the film as a technically impressive but emotionally distant reconstruction of D-Day that fails to engage as art and leaves the viewer bored despite its spectacle. He singles out the excessive use of fleeting star cameos as a distracting element that undermines seriousness. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/10/13/under-fire) ## Eye for Film — Scott Macdonald Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 2 July 2004. The critic finds that the film crumbles under its own epic intentions and lack of cohesion, despite its comprehensive scope and attention to detail in depicting the D-Day events. They single out the effectively staged combat scenes and visual impact of the widescreen photography for praise, while criticizing the disjointed narrative, excessive star cameos, and overlong exposition. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-longest-day-film-review-by-scott-macdonald) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-longest-day.md