A young British man Tom Beddoes is called up to war. The film follows his training and then finally landing on the beaches of Frances. There are large amounts of archival footage from both Allies and German sources that are intercut with this fictional character. I really didn't care or buy into the fictional account. The characters are interchangeable and not that compelling. The archival footage is another story. They take up about half of the movie and is rather fascinating. They don't actually connect with the fictional story. They create a surreal mood in the movie. The ending does have a poetic touch. However the fictional story still isn't that compelling.

During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.

This docu-drama is a mix of archive footage and a "new" story. This required the film to be shot in black and white, which makes it blend better but also adds a more powerful aesthetic. By 1975, color was quite predominant, but there is just something color cannot do: some of the best images will always be in black and white.

The film is beautifully shot by John Alcott, who had previously worked alongside Stanley Kubrick on "2001" (1968) and "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) in a supporting cinematographer role. Shortly after finishing "Overlord", he won an Oscar for Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon". Director Stuart Cooper pointed Alcott towards Hungarian war photographer Robert Capa (who had died in Vietnam in 1954). The result is excellent.

I can safely assume that "Overlord" had an extremely minuscule budget. None of the actors look like professionals, it was all shot in black & white and the film uses lots and lots of stock footage from WWII. Despite my reservations, which I'll get to in a moment, it's awfully good considering the costs.

The film follows a typical sort of soldier, Tom Beddows, from his induction to his landing at the beaches of Normandy. Throughout his story, clips of the preparations for the landing as well as other war footage is inserted...often in the clumsiest and seemingly random manner. Despite this, the story of Tom IS compelling and sucks you in to his life. Worth seeing...especially if you would love to see a decent micro-budgeted picture.