Stuart Cooper

Overlord

Overlord

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

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1975
  • 84 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #382

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Stuart Cooper, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary featuring Cooper and actor Brian Stirner
  • Mining the Archive, a 2007 piece featuring archivists from London’s Imperial War Museum detailing the footage used in the film
  • Capa Influences Cooper, a 2007 photo essay featuring Cooper on photographer Robert Capa
  • Cameramen at War, the British Ministry of Information’s 1943 film tribute to newsreel and service film unit cameramen
  • A Test of Violence, Cooper’s 1969 short film about the Spanish artist Juan Genovés
  • Germany Calling, a 1941 Ministry of Information propaganda film, clips of which appear in Overlord
  • Excerpts from the journals of two D-day soldiers, read by Stirner
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: an essay by critic Kent Jones, a short history of the Imperial War Museum, and excerpts from the Overlord novelization by Cooper and coscreenwriter Christopher Hudson

    New cover by Steve Chow

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Stuart Cooper, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary featuring Cooper and actor Brian Stirner
  • Mining the Archive, a 2007 piece featuring archivists from London’s Imperial War Museum detailing the footage used in the film
  • Capa Influences Cooper, a 2007 photo essay featuring Cooper on photographer Robert Capa
  • Cameramen at War, the British Ministry of Information’s 1943 film tribute to newsreel and service film unit cameramen
  • A Test of Violence, Cooper’s 1969 short film about the Spanish artist Juan Genovés
  • Germany Calling, a 1941 Ministry of Information propaganda film, clips of which appear in Overlord
  • Excerpts from the journals of two D-day soldiers, read by Stirner
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: an essay by critic Kent Jones, a short history of the Imperial War Museum, and excerpts from the Overlord novelization by Cooper and coscreenwriter Christopher Hudson

    New cover by Steve Chow
Overlord
Cast
Brian Stirner
Tom
Davyd Harries
Jack
Nicholas Ball
Arthur
Julie Neesam
The girl
Sam Sewell
The trained soldier
John Franklyn-Robbins
Dad
Stella Tanner
Mum
Credits
Director
Stuart Cooper
Produced by
James Quinn
Original screenplay
Christopher Hudson
Original screenplay
Stuart Cooper
Photographed by
John Alcott
Edited by
Jonathan Gili
Music composed by
Paul Glass

Current

Overlord’s Archival War Footage
Overlord’s Archival War Footage
It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say that Overlord features some of the most unbelievable images in the entire Criterion Collection. This is because of the way director Stuart Cooper integrated archival footage from World War II battles into his fiction…
Overlord: A Soldier for All Seasons
Overlord: A Soldier for All Seasons
Few national cinemas have confronted the issue of preparedness for war with the creative vigor of England’s. Thorold Dickinson’s The Next of Kin (1942), Alberto Cavalcanti’s Went the Day Well? (1942, from a story by Graham Greene), and, of cour…

By Kent Jones

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