Summary

• Breakthrough was praised for its realistic portrayal of D-Day and the brutalities of war.
• The film featured actual American and British military films along with real-life WWII footage.
• Breakthrough was profitable at the box office, earning over $3 million against a $784,000 budget.

A classic 1950 war movie called WWII films about D-Day were released soon after, particularly in the year 1950. D-Day took place on June 6 1944 and is widely regarded as one of the most significant days in American military history. According to BBC, "D-Day was the largest military seaborne operation ever attempted and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe." Breakthrough is not currently available to stream but physical copies can be purchased online.

Breakthrough stars David Brian as Captain Tom Hale, John Agar as Lt. Joe Mallory, and Frank Lovejoy as Sgt. Pete Bell. It also features performances by William Campbell,

Greg McClure, and Paul Picerni, who was best known for starring in the ABC series The Untouchables. Breakthrough was directed by Lewis Seiler and was released in theaters on November 17, 1950. It features actual American and British military films and real-life WWII footage in . Some of the best D-Day movies ever made include other notable examples of later works such as The Longest Day (1962), Storming Juno (2010), and the unforgettable Saving Private Ryan (1998).

1950's Breakthrough Was A Great D-Day Movie Just 5 Years After WW2 Ended

Breakthrough was praised for its authentic WWII footage

Breakthrough was applauded by audiences and critics for its realistic portrayal of D-Day and the brutalities of war. Roughly one-third of the film was made of previously existing military footage, which makes it much more authentic than your typical WWII movie. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in his 1950 review of the film, "The best way to take this picture is as an obvious glamorization of war, mixed with abundant scenes of battle and some starkly realistic news footage." The Warner Bros. film was profitable at the box office, earning a gross of just more than $3 million against a production budget of $784,000.

Several of the actors in Breakthrough had already starred in respected war movies. John Agar starred in Sands of Iwo Jima alongside John Wayne the year before, while Lovejoy starred in 1949's Home of the Brave alongside Douglas Dick, Steve Brodie, and Lloyd Bridges. Brian was better known for his classic film noirs such as Intruder in the Dust, Flamingo Road, Beyond the Forest, and The Damned Don't Cry, which also came out in 1950. Lovejoy serves as a genuine narrator of Breakthrough, while Agar's junior officer character and Brian's stern commander role give a stark presence to the WWII production.

The 1950s Had Multiple Good D-Day Movies

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel & D-Day The Sixth Of June

Several other great D-Day movies were released in the 1950s, including The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) directed by Henry Hathaway and D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) directed by Henry Koster. The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel stars James Mason as Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel and acts as an authentic biopic of the German WWII general's life. Rommel was nicknamed "The Desert Fox", hence the title of the 1951 film, which follows Rommel's military career after the Afrika Corps and his role in the assassination attempt and subsequent suicide of Adolf Hitler.

D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) brought together Robert Taylor, Edmond O'Brien, Dana Wynter, and Richard Todd, who also appeared in the D-Day film The Longest Day. The 1956 film was considered more of a classic wartime romance film and is tonally and structurally much different from the more serious and realistic s depicted in both Breakthrough and The Desert Fox. Many viewers were surprised to learn that the film hardly has anything to do with D-Day, making its title somewhat misleading. D-Day the Sixth of June is not so much of a war film as the others previously mentioned, but does feature at least one impressive battle sequence.

How Accurate Is Breakthrough's Depiction Of D-Day

The invasion of Omaha Beach was harder to pull off in the 1950 production

In many respects, a war film like 1950's Breakthrough will likely never be made again. Its inclusion of actual footage of the Allied Forces during World War II inevitably makes it one of the most realistic D-Day movies ever made. In fact, because the film has so many realistic elements, it avoids the traditional trappings of most Hollywood productions including inflated heroic characters and over-the-top action sequences. While this can in turn result in a less entertaining overall product, nothing can be more accurate in regard to WWII, or any war for that matter, than a primary source.

As far as how accurate it is in of D-Day specifically, it does a great job of depicting the inner dynamics and tactics of American infantry platoons of the 1st Infantry Division, which played a historically crucial role in the invasion of Omaha Beach. It was much more difficult to reenact the Normandy scenes given the technological and logistical restrictions of the time. The soldier characters are more authentic due to the fact that the film was released just five years after WWII ended. However, some of the characters in Breakthrough are heightened or exaggerated for either comedic or tragic effect, which can take some viewers out of it.

How Breakthrough Compares To Other Great D-Day Movies

Its archival WWII footage is the best part about the film

Compared to the best D-Day films of all time, which are widely considered to be Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, Breakthrough succeeds in being the first great installment of its kind but doesn't hold a candle to the very best movies on the subject. Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One (1980) is also right up there in an elite category, featuring leading performances from Lee Marvin, Robert Carradine, and Mark Hamill. Fuller himself served with the Big Red One, which was another way of referring to the 1st Infantry Division.

The matter of realism is an interesting one when comparing D-Day movies like Breakthrough and Saving Private Ryan. Although the former uses actual footage taken from WWII, Spielberg's portrayal of the invasion of Omaha Beach remains the most authentic depiction of D-Day ever put to film and is one of the greatest sequences of any war movie ever made. As far as the depictions of the mass violence of D-Day, Breakthrough was limited in every conceivable way compared to what Saving Private Ryan was able to achieve. The archival WWII footage may make Breakthrough a must-see D-Day film, but other ones, like Stuart Cooper's Overlord (1975), are more visceral and effective.