Overlord (Cooper, 1975)

For more than thirty years, Overlord was one of the handful of ultra low-budget gems that have been all but forgotten by everyone other than the most committed enthusi... more >

For more than thirty years, Overlord was one of the handful of ultra low-budget gems that have been all but forgotten by everyone other than the most committed enthusiasts of British cinema. A fusion of stylised and realistic techniques (there is extensive use of archive World War II footage, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum), its stark depiction of a young soldier's preparation for and participation in the Normandy landings (codenamed Overlord) strikes cinematic parallels with Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's It Happened Here, as well as serving up a more introspective counterpoint to the big budget D-Day spectacles The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan.

Made for £125000 in 1975 (a sum that amounted to almost nothing even then), Overlord's enforced economy is actually its strength. Director Stuart Cooper weaved his narrative around some startling aerial combat footage (selected from over 3000 hours of material); to add to the verisimilitude, cinematographer John Alcott (who shot some of Stanley Kubrick’s finest films) used lenses and film stock from the 1940s to ensure the fictionalised scenes matched up to the (literally explosive) action.

But this is not an exercise in verité. Alcott's polished lighting also brings a lyricism to the scenes in which the optimism and individualism of a bright young man, Tom (Brian Stirner), dissolve into the haunted premonitions of a pessimistic fighter. Cooper, for his part, heightens the proceedings with nods to forties cinema — Tom’s exchanges with a girl he takes a fancy to smack of Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson — and, in one particular scene, a tender, dreamlike eroticism. Nevertheless, as the film progresses and we are drawn into Tom’s inexorable immersion in the horrors of D-Day, it becomes easy to forget that half of what we are watching is archive material.

Despite winning a Silver Bear at the 1975 Berlin International Film Festival, Overlord lapsed almost immediately into obscurity. Last year, a print was revived and remastered (this UK DVD release follows a short run at the ICA). Finally, then, we can admire this noble experiment in documentary drama from a decade when noble British films were thin on the ground.

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DVD Extras

• Restored
• Commentary by director Stuart Cooper
• Interview with Roger Smither, Keeper Of The Archive at the Imperial War Museum
• Interview with co-star Nicholas Ball
• A tribute to John Alcott by cinematographer and friend Doug O'Neons
• A tour of the Imperial War Museum Archives with Roger Smither
• Theatrical trailer
• Booklet with essays from Stuart Cooper and others.

Film Details

Cast

Nicholas Ball, Brian Stirner, Davyd Harries, Julie Neesam

Technical Details