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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (20) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (2) | DVD (6)
An interesting failure, this rarely seen 1975 English feature about World War II combines documentary and fictional elements, though they tend to undermine each other.
Though not as aggressive as the freeform artistry of '70s contemporaries like Nicolas Roeg or Richard Lester, Cooper's film spins a hypnotic tone from flash-forwards, fantasy sequences, and dreamlike premonitions.
Overlord feels like a small but vivid tragedy inside an epic container.
Though made 31 years after D-Day, the dramatic scenes have the period look of a '40s movie, which links them perfectly with the stunning archival footage.
Overlord, a prize-winning entry in the 1975 Berlin Film Festival, deserves to join the pantheon of essential World War II combat movies.
It's still a feat of period filmmaking. More than that, Overlord's revivification of a wasteland Europe offers up a powerful whip lesson for the postwar complacent.
combines a straightforward complete-the-mission war pic with a Mad Nazi Scientist plot to rule the world movie.
A glimpse of both the inner life of the soldier waiting for combat, and the literal reality of the most devastating war the world has ever seen.
[...] Overlord's vision of war is still unlike that of any other fiction feature: more jarring, and more awe-inspiring.
A film that slipped through the cracks.
Fact and fiction endow each other with vitality and truth.
An unknown classic.
WWII through the eyes of an average, somewhat inept British foot soldier. Director Stuart Cooper effectively interlaces real war footage with scenes of the infantryman's more mundane daily routines. We get to know the character by vicariously sharing his hardship and even witnessing his frequent daydreams. Though released in 1975, this has an even older feel to it. A nice combination of post-war sensibility anchored deep in 1944's harsh reality. Definitely a film that warrants more discussion and deserves much more recognition.
Super Reviewer
An interesting premise. The period leading up to D-Day through the eyes of a young soldier, mixed with actual newsreel footage in between. I've always found anything to do with World World Two interesting so I thought the pieces of newsreel were fascinating. At times it's pretty hard to tell what is archive and what has been filmed especially for the film because they have done such a good job in recreating the style of the archive footage. The only downside is that I felt at times the narrative parts were a bit flat at times, with an unimpressive script and it took a while to get going. Considering the subject matter it's unsurprisingly not a feel good movie. Overall though, a very moving, and thought provoking film.
Clever interweaving of fictional story and archival footage which works better as a documentary than a drama.
[font=Century Gothic]"Overlord" is a haunting and moving film about a dutiful but not gung-ho young English soldier, Tom Beddoes(Brian Stirner), who is followed through training to D-Day during World War II. Throughout he feels overwhelmed by events and unlike his fellow soldiers is not optimistic about his chances for survival. This makes him sad when he considers how little how he has lived, especially with how much potentially he could accomplish.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Crisply shot in black and white, "Overlord" is enhanced by the use of archival footage which is quite a treat by itself.(Thankfully none of it is familiar enough to be considered cliche.) When not used as backgroud material, some of it is also used in Tom's dream sequences to help express his doubts. [/font]
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