The Longest Day

June 6th is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, an epic moment in WWII and in history. The invasion of France has figured in many films since, but for recreating the agony, horror and ultimate triumph the Allied soldiers experienced nothing comes as close to the actual battle as 1998's Saving Private Ryan starring Tom Hanks. The star of this year's Angels and Demons is doing another cinematic project devoted to WWII with The National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Here are the opening scenes from Ryan for which Steven Spielberg won the Oscar as Best Director. WARNING: This clip contains violent scenes of battle.

Farewell Ashley

On June 1, 1943 actor Leslie Howard, on a BOAC flight from England to Portugal, was killed when Nazi war planes shot his plane out of the sky over the Bay of Biscay killing all aboard. Enlisted by the British government, Howard, who will forever be known as Ashley Wilkes in the movie Gone With the Wind, had been evangelizing the Allied cause to Portuguese and Spanish audiences. Rumors persist that the Germans believed Winston Churchill on board and so attacked the pane. Evidence points to the contrary, and that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the attack thinking Howard was a dangerous propagandist and a threat to the German Reich. More. Here Howard is as Ashley, meeting Scarlett in one of cinema's more famous encounters.