Overlord (1975)
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) 
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From across the pond comes a little-known film called Overlord, which of course was the code name for the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion.
This film really is a hidden gem. Shot completely in black and white, and brilliantly intermixed with a ton of documentary footage from the Imperial War Museum's archives, Overlord is a surprising bit of experimental film making.
The story follows one Thomas Beddows as he joins up for the Army in '44. He's shuffled around in the pre-invasion buildup, until he finally disembarks across the channel. Unfortunately, that's where the story ends.
Overlord combined the aforementioned archival footage in such a way as to be nearly seamless. The movie's original footage was shot (or at least appears to be) in a similar style and with similar cameras and film as would have been for the era.
The only drawback to Overlord is that at times, especially towards the end, it gets a bit too arty-film-school for its own good. There are a couple scenes which stand out in this respect, one being right at the end where he daydreams about the girl he met only once preparing his corpse in some bizarre ritual.... Yeah, stuff like that.
If you overlook those moments, you really find yourself admiring this film. As one of the commentators in the DVD's special features said, you find yourself marvelling at the accidental beauty of the stock footage, only to be reminded, usually by that same footage just how horrible it all really is.
If you happen to come across this DVD, be sure to get into the special features section, as there is an entire "episode" which goes into where a lot of this footage actually comes from, and the people behind it. I highly recommend checking that out.
Of note in this film, also, is a few rare glimpses at some of the British experimental beach invasion equipment, including the chain-flinging minesweeper tank, the "rolling carpet" tank, and a look at the failed "rocket wheel" (I forget the longish proper name for it) device which was designed to launch a high explosive charge across the water into the German's concrete beach defenses.
What could have been an absolutely brilliant film though, becomes a merely brilliant work due to the arty intrusions, so I give Overlord an eight.... Check this one out.
Technorati Tags: war movie review, overlord, 1975, d-day invasion, 1944, world war ii 2, wwii
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Overlord (The Criterion Collection) List Price: Sale Price: $17.99 You save: $21.96 (55%)  Eligible for free shipping!Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days  |
Description
Seamlessly interweaving archival war footage and a fictional narrative, Stuart Cooper’s immersive account of one 20-year-old’s journey from basic training to the battle front lines at D-day brings all the terrors and isolation of war to its viewers with jolting authenticity. Overlord, impressionistically shot by Stanley Kubrick’s longtime cinematographer John Alcott, is both a document of WWII and a dreamlike meditation on man’s smallness in a large, incomprehensible machine.
To borrow a phrase from Film Comment editor-at-large Kent Jones, "unjustly forgotten and now happily resurrected" is the best way to describe Criterion's superb DVD release of Stuart Cooper's Overlord. Relatively unseen since its European theatrical release in 1975, this moody, well-crafted meditation on one soldier's preparation for battle employs a remarkably seamless combination of fictional narrative and amazing World War II footage from the archives of England's Imperial War Museum. While this "reel + real" technique is relatively common, director Stuart Cooper (an American filmmaker working in England) applied meticulous archival research to ensure that the documentary footage was logically and authentically integrated with his fictional narrative (cowritten with Christopher Hudson) to lend convincing verisimilitude to his simple, straightforward story of a young British soldier's anxious days prior to joining the front line in the D-Day Invasion of Nazi-occupied France (a.k.a. "Operation Overlord"--June 6, 1944). Haunted by a premonition of his own death, Tom (Brian Stirner) goes about his pre-battle business as any soldier would (including a touchingly sweet romance with an equally shy British girl, played by Julie Neesam), and as Overlord progresses, we see how the individual soldier is gradually absorbed into the massive machinery of warfare. Brilliantly filmed in black and white by Stanley Kubrick's frequent cinematographer John Alcott, Overlord succeeds as a thought-provoking study of war from intimate to epic scales, in addition to being an impressive technical achievement that's stylistically connected to the experimental narratives of the 1970s, yet still firmly rooted in the nobility of British war films from the 1940s. --Jeff Shannon On the DVD As always, the Criterion Collection did extensive research to provide Overlord with a wealth of informative supplements. Director Stuart Cooper and actor Brian Stirner share the DVD's feature-length commentary, and Overlord's historical context is thoroughly explored, beginning with "Mining the Archive," in which the Imperial War Museum archivists provide background history on the archival footage that director Stuart Cooper so carefully integrated into his narrative. "Capa Influences Cooper" is a photo essay in which Cooper explores the influence of legendary war photographer Rober Capa on the visual and emotional content of Overlord, and this emphasis is further supported by "Cameramen at War," a newsreel tribute to wartime photographers and newsreel cameramen, featuring some of the Imperial War Museum's most spectacular footage from World War II. "Germany Calling" is an amusing example of archival propaganda (produced in 1941 by the British Ministry of Information and briefly excerpted in Overlord) which ridicules Hitler's Nazi regime by synchronizing Nazi rally footage so a silly British melody. "A Test of Violence" is Stuart Cooper's 1969 short tribute to the bleak, war-themed paintings of Spanish artist Juan Genovés; it was this film that led Cooper to create Overlord. Also included is Stirner's dramatic reading of journals by two Scottish D-Day soldiers whose experiences parallel those of Stirner's character in Overlord; the film's original theatrical trailer; and a 30-page booklet with an Overlord essay by Kent Jones, a short history of the Imperial War Museum, and excerpts from the Overlord novelization by Cooper and cowriter Christopher Hudson. --Jeff Shannon
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Brand: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Criterion
Original Release Date:
Actors:
- Brian Stirner
- Davyd Harries
- Nicholas Ball
- Julie Neesam
- Sam Sewell
Reviews
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I rated this even higher than you did. I think it is very good. I did not mind the arty bits at all because it makes it different. Many movies are just so repetitive. And it is short. I am so fed up with these 2-3 and more hour movies…