War in cinema: a century of blockbuster

 

In october 2009, Thomas Chouanière wrote an article on Evene about cinema and war on the occasion of the DVD release of Howard Hugues' film Hell's Angels. The journalist wondered about the way the movie maker showed a major conflict on the big screen.
He focused on the movie Hell's Angels directed by the magnate Howard Hugues in 1930, and the 60's that he considered as the golden age of historic war film.

In 1930, Howard Hugues made a dream come true: Direct a film. His production, Hell's Angels, was a tribute to the soldiers of air against a background of a love story. The particularity of that film was the means, both financial and material. Howard Hugues' film broke all records: 70 airplanes, 4,2 millions dollars spent, 1700 onlookers and an amazing preview!

Hugues launched the fashion of big-budget war films.

In the 60's, film studios produced a lot of historic big-budget films in the form of peplums such as Cleopatre, Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments . The rise of big-budget films inspired the producer Darryl F Zanuck . He decided to produce a huge film about D-Day, the Normandy landing during World War II: The longest day,  with a budget of 10 000 000 millions dollars  and an exceptional cast: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Arletty, Bourvil, Sean Connery, Jean-Louis Barrault....The film required thousands of extras, whole hectares of land, four directors (one of whom Zanuck himself). The Longest Day might be indeed one of the most expensive film projects in history. 

Hell's Angels and The Longest Day were considered as a monument in cinema. In 1962, film director Stanley Kubrick mentioned Hell's Angels as one of his 10 favourite movies and having influenced his later career, and Martin Scorcese paid tribute to Howard Hugues and his Hell's Angels with the movie Aviator, with Leonardo Di Caprio in the role of the businessman.

During almost 30 years, The Longest Day was the reference for WWII movies. The historical battles were meticulously recreated with a great authenticity thanks to many military consultants and advisors who helped to produce the film. 

It was an example for a long time but the impact has been swept away by the first 10 minutes of Saving private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998).

It should be noted that the poster of Saving private Ryan is a tribute than the poster of the longest day. 






























http://www.evene.fr/cinema/actualite/guerre-hughes-anges-enfer-2290.php










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