382 Overlord

[numediaman2]

Overlord



Seamlessly interweaving archival war footage and a fictional narrative, Stuart Cooper's immersive account of one twenty-year-old's journey from basic training to the front lines of D-day brings all the terrors and isolation of war to life with jolting authenticity. Overlord, impressionistically shot by Stanley Kubrick's longtime cinematographer John Alcott, is both a document of World War II and a dreamlike meditation on man's smallness in a large, incomprehensible machine.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary featuring director Stuart Cooper and actor Brian Stirner
• Mining the Archive, a new video featuring Imperial War Museum film archivists detailing the war footage used in the film
• “Capa Influences Cooper,â€

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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[ogygia avenue]

Sadly, the release of Overlord remains a rumor. According to Jon Mulvaney, the release "is not on the calendar at this time". Argh.

If anyone has a copy of it from IFC, I'd love to see it.

[toiletduck!]

What's the current going rate on "not on the production calender"? June? July?

-Toilet Dcuk

[pianocrash]

Just caught a screening of the film, w/ mr. cooper in attendance. He spoke of a re-release in the new year (hopefully including one in washington) due to its success on the festival circuit, which I am guessing will be released by rialto. Janus logo beginning the print, boy oh boy, was it all ever so magical.

[ogygia avenue]

According to an independent source, Overlord will have a small theatrical release (125 theatres) in the new year, followed by a Criterion DVD. Janus Films will be handling the theatrical distribution. [/i]

[Cinephrenic]

Siskel Film Center

[mikeohhh]

We're getting it in the D.C. area at the AFI Silver in June

[Antoine Doinel]

The USA Today is reporting today that Criterion will release the DVD in 2007:

'Overlord' gets D-Day U.S. release

Long overdue: More than 30 years after it was made, Overlord, with Brian Stirner, center, plays in the USA.

By Mike Snider, USA TODAY

The critically hailed but rarely seen World War II film Overlord gets a timely U.S. launch this month.

Made in 1975 by director Stuart Cooper with the help of the Imperial War Museum in London, the film has been hailed for combining a story with military footage from the D-Day invasion, which unfolded 62 years ago this week.

Overlord's cinematographer, the late John Alcott, who won an Oscar for Barry Lyndon and did The Shining and A Clockwork Orange, experimented with film stocks and used rebuilt German lenses from the '30s. The movie focuses on one young British recruit's story amid the escalating conflict in Europe.

After critic Roger Ebert saw Overlord at the Telluride Film Festival two years ago, his four-star review described it as "a remarkable combination of new and archival footage."

Overlord won a Silver Bear jury prize at the 1975 Berlin Film Festival and played theaters in Europe but was never distributed in the USA, "probably because it was at the back end of the Vietnam War at the time, and it was not the most salient time to bring out a war picture," Cooper says.

The film follows Tom Beddoes (Brian Stirner) as he leaves home with a stiff goodbye from his parents. He trains for combat, kisses a girl at a dance and must burn his personal papers before being transported with the first troops to Normandy for Operation Overlord, the code name for the invasion.

Cooper's original idea was more modest. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Cooper, of Hoboken, N.J., began writing and directing documentaries. The Imperial War Museum enlisted him to do a documentary about a D-Day commemorative needlework project.

Cooper, who played Roscoe in The Dirty Dozen, watched more than 3,000 hours of the museum's 20,000 hours of raw World War II footage.

Soldiers' letters and diaries gave him the basis for a story about an ordinary soldier, Cooper says.

Cooper persuaded museum officials to let him make the dramatic film rather than a documentary. The Ministry of Defense helped with the training and aerial and landing scenes, and Royal Marines are in the cast.

The British side of World War II is well portrayed in Overlord, says the museum's Roger Smither, who assisted Cooper. "There was a feeling this wasn't going to end happily for anybody, and the film captures that."

At a premiere last week at the American Film Institute's cultural center in Silver Spring, Md., Cooper credited the Overlord clips in the film Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) for getting Overload invited to the Telluride Film Festival.

Current prints are made from a duplicate Cooper sent to Technicolor 30 years ago for a possible U.S. release. A Criterion Collection DVD is planned for 2007.

Cooper, who is now working on a remake of The Old Man and the Sea, says, "This is incredible, a success 30 years later."

[FilmFanSea]

Janus' theatrical release is reviewed today (a bit lazily) by Michael Atkinson in the Village Voice.

Makes me think that Overlord could be imaginatively coupled with Pabst's Westfront 1918 for its Criterion release, a sort of "War Is Hell" one-two punch.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I saw this last week, and am quite excited for the pending DVD. A commentary track seems like a must for this one, if for no other reason than commenting on the archival footage used.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

A review on SF360's site and it states, "It's soon to be available from Criterion Collection" and also includes another memorable excerpt:

Beautifully shot in a rainbow of grey tones by John Alcott -- who the very same year shot "Barry Lyndon," a major candidate for Most Gorgeously Photographed Movie Ever -- "Overlord" was duly complimented by Stanley Kubrick, who reportedly told Cooper "The only thing wrong is it's an hour and a half too short!"

[TheGodfather]

Haven`t heard of the movie to be honest, but the synopsis sounds really interesting. Might be getting this one

[miless]

Haven`t heard of the movie to be honest, but the synopsis sounds really interesting. Might be getting this one

isn't there a quote from Stanley Kubrick who said that his only problem with the film was that it was an hour too short. (Kubrick had apparently been at a screening of it while shooting Barry Lyndon, as the two films share John Alcott as cinematographer)

[TheGodfather]

Haven`t heard of the movie to be honest, but the synopsis sounds really interesting. Might be getting this one

isn't there a quote from Stanley Kubrick who said that his only problem with the film was that it was an hour too short. (Kubrick had apparently been at a screening of it while shooting Barry Lyndon, as the two films share John Alcott as cinematographer)

that`s sounds good. always good to hear something like that from the master

[colinr0380]

DVD Beaver review

[jbeall]

I got around to watching this yesterday. Interesting film.

The documentary footage alone made this film worthwhile, but it's structurally very interesting as well. I won't really comment more on the film itself, as I'm still mentally processing it and don't want to give anything away. I would simply say that most (not *quite* all, but most) of the documentary footage makes an interesting counterpoint to the fictional storyline of the film, and that an active awareness of the interplay between the large-scale (doc. footage) and small-scale (Tom Beddows' story), specifically how they respond to and (indirectly?) comment on each other is crucial to grasping the Overlord as a whole.

As far as the extras, however, they're very worthwhile, esp. "Mining the Archive", which features some really interesting footage (including a jolt as one cameraman was injured, effectively ending his front-line participation in the war).

I don't think you need to be a WWII buff to appreciate this film or criterion's presentation. Indeed, while Overlord isn't my favorite criterion by a long shot, I really like the impressive array of materials gathered into this package. They've taken a difficult film and and added the right materials to make the film more comprehensible and the package fairly unique.

[HistoryProf]

Surprised there aren't more comments here. This is a really remarkable film...one of the most poignant WWII films (or any war for that matter) I've ever seen. The documentary footage is truly remarkable. This is one of my favorites in the collection now.

[colinr0380]

Digitally Obsessed review

[Antoine Doinel]

Stuart Cooper on the making and re-release of the film.

[John Hodson]

Metrodome are releasing 'Overlord' in the UK in March:

SPECIAL FEATURES:
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...

[LightBulbFilm]

I've started a thread on Cooper in the filmmakers forum in an attempt to learn more about him. Is there anyone who could shed any light on his work or even his biography?

[domino harvey]

Blu-ray upgrade coming May 13th

[acroyear]

Kritzerland Records is bundling Paul Glass' score with music from two other films on a limited-edition CD release.

[L.A.]

DVDBeaver review for the Blu-ray.

[Minkin]

And here's Bluray.com's review.