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.

The Donna Next Door

Donna Reed's (1921-1986) been in the news this week for saving the fan letters WWII GIs sent her during the War. A native Iowan, Reed epitomized a wholesome American grace evident in the role of Mary Bailey in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. Here is the trailer from her most memorable hit from WWII, John Ford's They Were Expendable with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne. She plays a nurse who has a romance with Wayne during the Japanese attack on the Philippines.

Ball of Fire

What was the country like right before Pearl Harbor? FDR stimulated the economy with a huge increase in defense spending, and the country sparked and popped with nervous energy. Barbara Stanwyck as a slang-spouting stripper who teams up with Gary Cooper, a befuddled linguist, to produce "Ball of Fire," one of the last peacetime Screwball Comedies. Here she does a little boogie woogie with Gene Krupa. The film released on Dec. 2, 1941 five days before the Japanese attack on Hawaii.

Rita Hayworth PR Princess

The War offered studio publicists a never-ending array of "photo opportunities" to place their stars with servicemen and, in general, being shown helping the War Effort. This montage from WWII depicts Rita Hayworth smiling 'til her teeth hurt.

Going Hollywood from Ellen et7waage on Vimeo.

"You Know How to Whistle?"

Yowser. Sharing one of the hotter Hollywood kisses is Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in 1944's To Have and Have Not. As with Casablanca the setting is a Vichy French territory. But this time it's Bacall, not Bergman, who wins Bogie - and in real life, too. The couple fell in love and eventually married, living together until Bogart died of lung cancer in 1957.

"We'll Always Have Paris"

Today's the anniversary of the start of the Nazi Blitzkrieg and the Fall of France. Appropriate then, to include the farewell scene from Casablanca where Rick tells Ilsa: "We'll always have Paris." There was a while when we didn't. Glad we got it back.

Casablanca Excerpt from Ted von Bevern on Vimeo.