Comparing The Longest Day with Saving Private Ryan

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Comparing The Longest Day with Saving Private Ryan.

The Longest Day was filmed in 1962, and was made to celebrate the victory for the Allies in World War II. All of the stars of the time appeared in it, including John Wayne and Richard Burton. Saving Private Ryan was filmed in 1998, and was purposely made to show how grim and horrific war is, and the director, Stephen Spielberg, researched a lot about the war by interviewing people involved in the specific events during the war. I am going to compare the D-Day sequences from both films, looking at the leaders, sergeants, the importance of individual soldiers and the way the Germans and Americans are filmed. I am also going to compare how each director tells the story using cameras, sound effects, mise-en-scene and editing.

In The Longest Day, General Cota leads his men from the front, holding a cigar in his hand, looking rather relaxed. He announces, "There it is, men. Omaha Beach" and also waves the troops forward. Cota gives the troops a pep talk, as though he knows what to do. He also sends a soldier back through the battle to get his rifle, which tells the audience and the soldiers that he cares, but also is in control. In contrast, Captain Miller leads his men from behind, and seems nervous beforehand when we see his hand shaking to open the water bottle. This is shown to us at the beginning and the end. A lot of the battle is seen through Captain Miller's eyes as a POV shot, as though we are Captain Miller, which gives you a good idea about how awful the war was. We do not get this in The Longest Day, as General Cota is seen to be a big hero and cannot put a step wrong. Captain Miller was white faced with fear, and when we see the battle as Captain Miller, most of the noise is shut out due to shell shock, and a soldier is shouting for orders, but is not heard, and then suddenly all the noise floods back to our ears. The Captain then puts his helmet back on to get back into battle, which shows that he snapped out of captain mode for a second, saw the horrific scenery, then remembered he had to be the boss again. The helmet is full of watered-down blood. Captain Miller's orders are short and snappy, and very rushed, whereas General Cota's orders were rather long and cheery. We also don't see General Cota with a gun, but we see Captain Miller shooting the enemy. Captain Miller says "Quite a view" twice, which is usually said when there's beautiful scenery, but in this case he means the complete opposite-total carnage. There's then a slow panning shot with the first music of the clip, which shows how ugly war really is.
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The sergeant in The Longest Day raises his hand, and shouts "STAND BY!" then just jogs behind the troops, copying the General. The sergeant in Saving Private Ryan (Sergeant Horner) is always focused, and just gets on with what he has to do. He says, "We're in business!" quite often, and there are lots of close ups on his face, showing detachment. He collects soil from Africa, Italy and now France. This is his way o blocking out the horror of the war. War is like a business to Horner, but he is also likeable as he cares ...

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