Overlord (#382) (Criterion Collection)[USA]

[Horhay]

Release Date: May 13, 2014
Purchase: Amazon

United Kingdom
1975
84 minutes
Black and White
1.66:1
English

Seamlessly interweaving archival war footage and a fictional narrative, this immersive account by Stuart Cooper 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, 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.

Disc Features:

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