Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Jonathon Dabell In his third film, director Peter Collinson gives us this very unusual antiwar offering. A lost film that is very rarely screened nowadays, and completely unavailable on video or DVD, The Long Day's Dying is one of those movies that divides the majority of viewers into two camps - there are those who hail it as a cult classic and a film of tremendous power, and there are those who find it irritating and unappealing in the extreme. One of the most experimental things Collinson has done in this film is to use very little spoken dialogue; instead most of the talk is provided by voice-overs telling us what is going through a character's mind at a given moment. So, for example, when David Hemmings is creeping up behind a German soldier but cannot bring himself to cold-bloodedly shoot the man in the back, his thoughts are heard in voice-over as he thinks: "You're dead and you don't even know it. Now turn around. TURN AROUND!"Three British paratroopers find themselves stranded in a deserted building somewhere in the European countryside during WWII. We learn that they were instructed to hide in the building and keep watch for advancing Germans, with a promise from their sergeant that he would return for them later to take them back to the rest of their unit. The trio consists of pacifist John (David Hemmings), violent Cliff (Tony Beckley) and the quiet but clear-thinking Tom (Tom Bell). However, several hours have gone by since the sergeant was supposed to relieve them, and the three are now beginning to grow anxious. Their plight worsens when a three-man German patrol happens by. The British paratroopers kill two of the Germans but the third - Helmut (Alan Dobie) - is only injured and becomes their prisoner. Now that their location is compromised the trio decide that their safest bet is to find their unit by themselves, so they set off with their prisoner on a trek through the countryside in search of their allies....The Long Day's Dying is full of quiet understatement, with many moments where the camera lingers long on the faces of the protagonists. Even a small grin, a frown, or a hard swallow is very deliberate and is meant to be significant. The actors do a good job at getting across these subtle, almost imperceptible emotions. The story itself is rather dull, with little taking place over the 95 minute running time. One assumes that the film is some kind of allegory, with the handful of characters used as a microcosm - a small-scale representation, if you like - of the wider picture that was the Second World War. The violence is infrequent, but when they come the scenes of death and injury are very gory and show with grim realism the terrible things that weapons and booby traps can do to the human body. I found The Long Day's Dying a bit disappointing, as I couldn't get past the allegorical pretensions and the relentlessly unorthodox approach. But I certainly wouldn't pan it in the way that most professional critics have (Variety, Halliwell, Maltin, et al all hated this film). It's an unusual and very different sort of war film that some viewers - (admittedly, I'm not one of them) - will find interesting, powerful and thought-provoking.

andrew-1360 I saw this film prior to joining the British Army. I went through my basic training, at first difficult and then as I progressed much easier. My time was spent during the height of the troubles in NI and the cold war. There was times when I questioned myself on what I had gotten myself into, not for long, as the training would always take over and you would always react instinctively. The voice over used to display what the soldiers are thinking is spot on, though I would have added breathing and heart rate as this seems to pound in your ear drums in given situations. Some years later I was in Canada for a family get together. An Aunty of mine who lives in the USA and is a lecturer at the Columbus Uni Ohio had done a paper on the effects of the British Army in NI. She spent some time out there researching. Although an ex pat she was very anti-British. She made a bee line for me and condemned me for being a British soldier. My only answer was see the film 'A long day's dying'. It's the closest a civilian will get to realise why a soldier does what he does. The answer is right at the end.

david szkrobot I saw the long day's dying when it first came out at the cinema, I thought the film gave a good soldiers point of view, it gave a realistic account, of men at war. The storyline moves at a nice pace, showing a group of men behind enemy lines, and trying to return back to their own lines with an enemy prisoner. The characters are well developed, and believable.David Hemmings is a good actor and plays the leading role with conviction, as does Alan Dobie (as German Helmut) I was surprised, that i have been unable to find this film on VHS or DVD, and I feel it has become the forgotten film, which is sad , as it is superior to many other war films I have seen.

jannjess I have seen this film only the one time about 25 years ago, and to this day I have always told people it is probably the best film I have ever seen. Considering there was no verbal dialogue and only thought dialogue i found the film to be enthralling and I even found myself holding my breath so as not to make any sound. I would highly recomend this film, I wish it was available on DVD.