OVERLORD

UK, 1975, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Brian Stirner, Davyd Harries, Nicholas Ball, Julie Neesam.
Directed by Stuart Cooper.

Overlord is the story of D- Day, a feature film with documentary overtones, including a substantial amount of film footage from the period. It was made under the auspices of the Imperial War Museum in London.

This film focuses on a young man called, significantly, Tom, a British Tommy. He turns 21 in the days before D- Day. We see him at home, packing, farewelling his parents, coming late to camp because of a bombing raid, and a great deal of detail about his training for the Normandy landing. Eventually, he and his friends go for more specific training for landing on beaches, preparing to go on the expedition, a touch of humanity as they go to a local hall for dance, Tom meeting a girl, but then it is time to go across the channel. The film ends with a further wave returning, the dead and wounded.

Already, in 1954, there was a feature film, D- Day, the Sixth of June, with Robert Taylor. But, of course, the most significant film about the D- Day landing was Saving Private Ryan, Stephen Spielberg’s award-winning film. 2017 film simply called Churchill, was Brian Cox, has the Normandy landings as its theme – with a speculation that Churchill was against Normandy as a specific location, remembering his responsibility for so many young men dying on the shores of Turkey in World War I.



1. The title, D- Day, 1944? The status of this event in British and war history? The facts of D- Day and the preparation and planning? Turning point in the war?

2. The 1940s, the United Kingdom, atmosphere, black-and-white photography, London settings, the war and the bombs, homes and streets? The atmosphere of the war, the training camp? The musical score?

3. Tom’s story, his age, an ordinary British soldier, getting his papers, the call up, packing, farewell to the parents, going, the raid, his being late, settling in?

4. The details of all the training, especially in preparation for the Normandy landing?

5. Tom, sense of premonition, sense of fate? His friendship with Arthur? Their discussing hopes for after the war?

6. The scene of the bomber, dropping the bombs, the glimpse of the ruins? The atmosphere of 1944?

7. D- Day, the locations for training, the landing craft, the beaches?

8. The ordinary background, the soldiers going to the dance, Tom meeting the girl, the farewell kiss? The later memory?

9. On the move, Tom with Arthur and Jack, the transports, the crafts?

10. The waiting, haircut, signing a will, getting photographs? Tom’s 21st birthday and the letters?

11. The troops, massing, the ships, the gliders, the landing craft?

12. Tom, on the craft, sailing, his feelings and expectations, what was going on in his mind, the burning of the letter, the visit to the music hall, the farewell to the girl?

13. Tom, the leap onto the land, running, the invasion, his expectations?

14. The new wave, the dead and the wounded, their returning to England?

15. The impact of the film and its memories of the invasion – and this perspective from the 1970s?