Customer Reviews

Overlord [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Overlord" is a curious film that blends archival footage into a fictional account of a typical British soldier preparing for the D-Day invasion. While I found "Overlord" lacking as a narrative, it was a worthy cinematic experiment and should be of particular interest to anyone interested in World War II.

Made in England in 1975 with the help of the Imperial War Museum, "Overlord" was not released in the United States until 2006. This long overdue DVD release helps atone somewhat for the film's long absence from North American markets.

"Overlord" is a short sometimes choppy story that manages as well as might be expected to integrate actual footage of Nazis and Allied troops in action including bombing raids and their devastating results. While the focus of the story is on one soldier's enlistment in the British Army and training for D-Day, it is an at times powerful meditation on war's effect on individuals. "Overlord" specifically examines the mindset of soldiers preparing for battle especially as they face the reality of their own mortality.

The real triumph of the DVD is the bonus features. On one such feature two representatives of the Imperial War Museum speak about the making of the film, specifically the archival footage. Another is a tribute to war photographers that was made in 1943. "Germany Calling" produced by the British government's propaganda arm during the war, is a very funny spoof of the Nazis.

As is always the case with Criterion films, the DVD is pricey (they don't do anything on the cheap) but as is also always the case with Criterion, the movie and all features are presented in pristine condition.

"Overlord" is an important edition to the many outstanding films on World War II, bold in its ambition and significant for its use of actual footage. And in this DVD release, the bonus features are not just add ons.

One young British soldier, who celebrates his 20th birthday while training for the impending D-Day invasion, writes a letter to his parents and tells them that as time passes, he feels like a smaller and smaller part of a bigger and bigger machine.

Being a small component of a massive device is the central idea behind Stuart Cooper's "Overlord," an odd, hazy, child's-fever-dream of a movie that uses staged black-and-white scenes interspersed with actual archival footage from World War II.

We follow Tom (Brian Stirner) through a drab, dispiriting round of basic training; his experiences are interspersed with separate scenes of battle, of invasion and aftermath to illustrate events going on "meanwhile" all around him, events leading up to Normandy.

The movie is a truly unique visual experience. John Alcott shot the storyline scenes (just before he began work on "Barry Lyndon") and the movie has a look not unlike "The Elephant Man," or its thematic brother, "Johnny Got His Gun."

Though the incorporation of actual footage is very smooth, I never had any trouble distinguishing what came from the 40s and what was shot in the 70s. That didn't ruin the experience for me: Look at the hauntingly beautiful scenes involving bombers flying above the cloudline at night, or a harrowing training sequence in which a rowboat ditches its passengers onto rocks (Cooper reveals in his commentary that one or two men actually died during the exercise).

With its short, spare narrative and its stark conclusion, "Overlord" almost feels like a short story of a movie, but that doesn't downplay its impact or importance. This is a little-known movie worth reviving and it gets a fine Criterion presentation here. The commentary with Copper and Sterner is particularly good; it's worth listening to to hear how they did it even if you don't particularly connect with the film.

This incredible film is a dreamlike recreation that mixes real vintage footage with original film as it follows an ordinary young British bloke from his military induction to D Day.

Wonderfully evocative on every level. The photography is extraordinary. Powerful images shimmer next to the sublime. The very human dilemma of how to make sense of life and war has never been told better. A great film.

WOW!...Another amazing hidden gem from the folks at criterion..if you are a an avid fan of Criterion, and the amazing films they bring to viewer's attention, you owe it to yourself to buy and watch Overlord. An amazing film, the story line is shot in an amazing way, mixed with real world war 2 stock footage...the film plays like a dream. A war film directed by David Lynch!....The composition of each shot, angle is carfefuly thought out by the filmakers...It is a haunting film, and stayed with me for days!....check it out!, one of the best dvd's of the year!.

As with any film that Criterion chooses to put out, "Overlord" is well worth watching. If you're coming to this film as I did, however, not knowing anything about it, you may be surprised to find that this is NOT a retelling of D-Day in the style of "The Longest Day" or "Saving Private Ryan." Other than a few shots of air raids from the archives, there is no combat whatsoever depicted in this film, and it ends just as the Allies are first hitting the beaches on that day. I think it was a bit misleading to entitle the film "Overlord" and then have "D-Day, June 6, 1944" emblazoned across the cover, since nearly all of the film takes place BEFORE D-Day. Overlord (the Allies' code-name for the invasion) here seems to be used in a more metaphorical sense, since the only overlord in this film would seem to be war itself, an overarching unseen presence which first deprives men of their individuality and freedom, and then destroys them physically. As others have written, this film consists of two elements: archive footage from the Imperial War Museum, and the story of a young British Everyman who is called up and undergoes training in preparation for D-Day. The archive film is quite impressive; I've spent many hours watching WWII film and a lot of this material, which is quite interesting, was new to me. Other than some air raid film, however, most of it depicts the massive preparations that had to be carried out in order to prepare for the invasion. As for the new parts of the film, they are visually quite interesting, particularly since it was filmed by John Alcott, a veteran of four of Kubrick's greatest films. It looks distinctive and yet meshes well with the archive footage...in a few instances, it's hard to tell which is which. But I do have to agree with others here that the story itself, such as it is, falls flat. The story of the naive young recruit who has to undergo a rite of passage into the ranks of the military, and who frets about his possible fate in combat, has been done so many times, both before and since "Overlord," in both books and films, that the plot aspect ends up being riddled with well-filmed but uninteresting cliches. So, I give this film five stars for its visuals, but only one star for its plot, and that averages out to three. One last note: as usual with Criterion, the extras are quite good on this disc and help to justify its cost. There are several short documentaries which discuss the origins of the archive footage that is used, plus some dramatic readings by the principal actor of excerpts from actual diaries kept by British D-Day veterans.

"Operation Overlord", the code-name used for the Allied invasion of France in June 1944, commanded by General Dwight Eisenhower. A code-name in which Americans, Canadians, British and French soldiers joined together to fight against the resistance and to overtake the Germans in Normandy. Over 150,000 men were planned for a mass landing and the Allied Forces would end up as the victors in the second World War.

Fast forward to the '70s and a new war taking place in Vietnam, needless to say that people were growing sick of the war and while previous war films were successful as propaganda films, in 1975, a film directed by Stuart Cooper would feature a young soldier named Tom Beddows who was called up to join the military and fight in the war but would have images of him being killed in battle.

Unlike any war film seen ever in cinema at that time, Cooper who was to work on a documentary about soldier embroidery did a lot of research and in the process was able to find archived footage kept at the Imperial War Museum and instead, wanted to male a film about a young soldier's journey and outlook on life as a young man who is called up to join the military, his life in boot camp and his life and thoughts as he and his fellow soldiers are being whisked to the beaches to fight in the war. But what made "Overlord" so much different from war films is that it effectively combined archived newsreel and fictional war footage captured by various sources and successfully creating a war film in 1975. But also, the main character was influenced by the letters of several D-day soldiers.

But because the film came out years after the Vietnam War and months after Nixon's resignation, people were wanting to get away from anything political let alone war-related and thus this UK brilliant film failed to get US theatrical distribution and although shown at some screenings and on television, especially winning the Silver Bear at the 1975 Berlin Film Festival, unfortunately "Overlord" was a film that was more or less forgotten.

Fast forward to 2007, over 30-years later after the film's screening, the film was finally released in the US courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

VIDEO:

"Overlord - THE CRITERION COLLECTION #382' is presented in 1:66:1 black and white. According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the DVD release was supervised by director Stuart Cooper and the new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive. The MTI Digital Restoration System was used to remove thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches. Apple Shake software was utilized to reduce film jitter. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.

"Overlord" looks appropriate with its black and white footage and wonderful cinematography by John Alcott ("A Clockwork Orange", "The Beastmaster", "No Way Out") in capturing the feel of World War II and using the correct lens and getting the right shots to blend in with the archival footage from various sources. The way the footage and the film came together was extraordinarily well done. Very well-done cuts by Stuart Cooper and for the most part, a fantastic job!

AUDIO:

According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic stems and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle. The film is Dolby Digital 1.0 and thus is center channel-driven. I chose to set my receiver to stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Overlord - THE CRITERION COLLECTION #382" comes with the following special features:

* Audio Commentary - Audio commentary by director Stuart Cooper and actor Brian Stirner.
* Theatrical Trailer - (2:51) The original 1975 theatrical trailer.
* Mining the Archive - (23:23) Imperial War Museum film archivists Roger Smither and Anne Fleming discuss Stuart Cooper's use of archival war footage for the film and also additional footage shot on D-day by service cameramen.
* Soldiers' Journals - Featuring a text-based feature which include journals from D-Day soldiers, Sergeant Edward Robert McCosh and Sergeant Finlay Campbell. Excerpts from the letters are read by actor Brian Stirner (who plays the character of Tom in "Overlord"). Also, included is an introduction by filmmaker Stuart Cooper.
* Capa Influences Cooper - (8:00) A featurette on legendary war photographer Robert Capa shot 105 images on Omaha Beach (where may of the soldiers were killed during D-day) and director Stuart Cooper talks about how he was influenced by Capa's work.
* Germany Calling - (2:06) The complete short film of "Germany Calling" from 1941 (that ridicules Hitler and the Nazis to the 1937 tune "The Lambeth Walk" and used during the cinema scene of the film) is included on this DVD.
* Cameramen at War - (14:42) A short film produced by the British Ministry of Information in 1943 and a tribute to newsreel and service film unit cameramen.
* A Test of Violence - (14:15) A short film created by Stuart Cooper from back in 1969 about the Spanish artist Juan Genoves, who painted the horror of oppressions and brutality. The film is a winner of several film festival prizes.

EXTRAS:

"Overlord - THE CRITERION COLLECTION #382" comes with a 30-page booklet which includes the essay "Man Versus Machine" by Kent Jones, an excerpt by Roger Smither head of the Imperial War Museum Film and Photograph Archive and an excerpt from "Overlord: The Novel" by Christopher Hudson and Stuart Cooper.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"Overlord"... Possibly one of the top war films ever created that people never saw, let alone a film that possibly many people have never heard of. A wonderful UK film that received critical praise but yet has been forgotten. A film that didn't follow the banality of war films, a film so fantastic, wonderfully filmed and well-acted but yet, is not a well-known film possibly due to the timing of the film's release and America's current state post-war and post-Whitewater, the film never received theatrical distribution until 30 years later courtesy of Janus Films and a DVD release from THE CRITERION COLLECTION.

Effectively bringing together newsreel and fictional war footage from World War II and creating this harmonic tie-in with Stuart Cooper's film is quite amazing. It was definitely seamless in how the film goes from regular film to war footage and to think that this film was created over 30-years after World War II and over 30-years it took for this film to receive any kind of distribution here in the United States.

And through the efforts of long research and for Stuart Cooper and those at the Imperial War Museum to select the right video cuts that would surprise the audience who probably are unfamiliar with this World War II footage. May it be the night runs as bombs are dropped all over a city to the day run and more bombing and the city and to see the tragedy unfold with the various cities destroyed and to see also see many people dead. As disturbing these images are, they were carefully selected and made part of the film. In fact, it took Stuart Cooper years of hunting through these national archives for images and footage for the film.

The cinematography by John Alcott (a cinematographer who had worked with Stanley Kubrick a good a number of times) is fantastic and to think that they had a limited budget with limited resources to create this film is amazing. Where today's films need to use CG to effectively show many soldiers at war and incredible devastation. But this was not the case back then in 1975, it all came down to the support of the museum, years of thorough research and a supportive military and most of all, having a wonderful cinematographer who was able to capture this amazing footage and through editing, making everything seem seamless and for the most part, the combined war footage worked. And with Alcott's involvement, it makes you wonder how much of this film inspired Stanley Kubrick in his war film "Full Metal Jacket".

Despite utilizing unknown talent, Brian Stirner along with Davyd Harries, Nicholas Ball and Julie Neesam were quite effective in their roles and because these talents were unknown, in some way or other, it made the film have a realistic feel to it. The fact is that a soldier's life during a World War was uncertain. This film was unlike many other war films out there. What we do see is actual war footage which becomes the movie's own personal action sequence but also showing us the ugliness and devastation of war, while the movie portion which is through one young man's eye, it is a war film not about surviving but a war about a young guy who loves to read, drafted into the military and being trained to go into war and the protagonist feeling that the outcome in his life is death.

Having grown up with a father in the military as with my grandfather, the whole concept of being drafted was so scary to me. I was young at the time but I can remember hearing on television about the draft and of course, the threat of a nuclear attack from Russia was always looming as the threat of World War III was always talked about in the news, featured on television and movies. Needless to say, at a young age, I was always in constant fear that I may be drafted and because of the films I was watching at the time, always had these nightmares of being a soldier and killed in battle.

So, for me, watching "Overlord" was quite an interesting experience to see how the soldiers had their take on being drafted and just seeing them talk about their fears. Granted, the demeanor of the main character Tom, who is perhaps your "good boy" type of character, I suppose having a life that one never really had to worry about danger and then being called up to serve in the military to fight a war, it was interesting to see if this young man would be phased by all this rough training and seeing if his friends and their worries would start to have an affect on him. And once he starts having those recurring nightmares, although he may seem calm and collected, it's really interesting of how his character develops throughout the film, especially when he meets a woman that he likes at a dance hall or even watching a movie with a woman.

In many ways, I saw this film and enjoyed of how it seemed quite poetic. May it be due to director Stuart Cooper's handling of wartime footage and newsreel footage from World War II and effectively interweaving it with his film and if anything, I see "Overlord" as wonderful filmmaking for its time and its lack of a significant budget. If anything, Cooper's film is quite inspirational for filmmakers as it shows the budding filmmaker of how an effective war film can be done without spending millions of dollars. Granted, the film was created back in 1975 but still, you can't help but watch "Overlord" and be impressed of what was accomplished.

As for THE CRITERION COLLECTION DVD release of"Overlord"...I felt it was fantastic. From several lengthy and informative featurettes and interviews, especially to hear the staff from the Imperial War Museum to the reading of D-day soldier letters, tribute to service unit cameramen, audio commentary and a essay booklet from film critic Kent James, this DVD is a well-rounded release and is simply is deserving of my recommendation of a must-own Criterion Collection DVD, especially for those who are war cinema aficionados.

Overall, "Overlord" is a unique and effective war film that is remarkably moving and visually impressive. Definitely recommended!

I echo the words of one reviewer who said this movie has a dreamlike quality---the images resonate long after the film is over! The fluid photography and the isolated bits of intimate dialogue created an almost swirling, transcendent effect that culminated in the raw fear and confusion of imminent death. There are many great films about the horror of war--some shout at you with gory deaths and great special effects. But Overlord is successful---and indeed a great film---because of its intimate, knowing whisper in your ear. This a MUST SEE movie! ScottyB

The Bottom Line:

This combination of narrative film and archive footage (some of which is spectacular) won't enter any list of the best war films of all time but it's still a film unlike any I've seen on World War II; a darn sight more intelligent than most of the looking-backwards-patriotically WWII films that Britain and Hollywood were churning out at the time, Overlord is worth seeing for any war film buff.

3/4

The film, shot deliberately in black & white, opens with a young man in England leaving home for boot camp. He appears to be the definition of average, neither overly bright nor stupid. Naive might be a label that applies, if anything. Young men all over England are being called up as casualties mount on the European front and the Allies prepare for D-Day. The strength of the film is in its use of terrific archival footage from the Imperial War Museum within the movie. Our young soldier survives boot camp and thanks to a fellow soldier becomes a little more worldly than before he entered the service. The use of the archival film to show the massive buildup of troops and equipment contrasted with the loneliness and fear of the solitary soldier is effective in understanding D-Day. Some of the footage from the archives is amazing and worth watching the film for that alone. You have the most massive military invasion in history and yet at its core is the individual soldier. He meets and falls in love with a very nice young girl but will there be a future together-will there be a future at all? Neither of them can be sure. His unit learns that they will be among the first to land on D-Day. Cannon fodder-that's what they begin to see themselves. How would you react knowing your chances of surviving the invasion are slim and none? While some see this an anti-war film, I think it is more a reality of war film. While war may be a necessary evil in the face of greater evils, that doesn't change the fact that is evil and young lives and families are forever changed. A film that will make you pause and consider the consequences of even the most just war. The extras are very worthwhile.

If you are not sated by a million documentaries about WWII, 'Overlord' gives you amazing and strangely often beautiful archival footage from the British Imperial War Museum, restored to pristine clarity. Though shot on the run, by many photographers, on little 16mm cameras, these 'real' images of war rise to the status of art. 'Overlord' takes this footage - or some of it - the selection process must have been a lengthy labour of love - and integrates it with new footage to tell the story of three representative, low-ranking 'ordinary' soldiers. This story makes a framing device for the archival footage; we see call-up, induction, training, more training, postings hither and yon, anxiety and fear, and embarkation for Normandy and D-Day. Meanwhile, London is bombed and burns, and B-52s raid the enemy. The excellent editing juxtaposes the banal with the horrific. The movie never glorifies war - on the contrary. Unfortunately, however, the created 'story' of our three soldiers is a bit flat, maybe because of the director's determination that his three soldiers be just three ordinary Joes caught up in this massive event. So no 'stars' to distract us, but no really engaging performances either. The deliberately anti-climactic ending (see the excellent 'Extras' to confirm this) will probably disappoint many. The power of this movie lies with the archival footage itself and the brilliant way it is edited together.