3 January 2008

It was a buzz when Criterion announced that Stuart Cooper's masterful Overlord was coming to DVD last year, but it's particularly good news to see it announced for a DVD release in the country in which it was made. Winner of the Silver Bear at the 1975 Berlin Film Festival, Overlord seamlessly blends actual WW2 footage with new material, beautifully shot by Stanley Kubrick regular John Alcott (A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining) to create a unique, compelling and terrifying vision of war as it it is experienced by a shy young conscript in the preparations for the Normandy landings.

Critically acclaimed upon it's original release in the UK in 1975, the Sunday Telegraph declared "It should not be missed... We are in Stuart Cooper's debt", while the Daily Mail agreed by saying "I can't recommend it too highly". A recent US re-release in 2005 saw contemporary critics agree. "Overlord combines its newsreel and fictional footage so effectively that it has a greater impact than all fiction, or all documentary, could have achieved" was Roger Ebert's opinion, while Time Out NY simply called it "an impressionistic wonder".

Overlord was a labour of love for Cooper and the Imperial War Museum (who co-produced the movie), and together they spent three years pouring through the footage to find the shots used in the movie – which is at times truly incredible. All profits from the original release of the movie were pledged to the Imperial War Museum and related charities.

Overlord will be released on UK DVD on 3rd March by Metrodome at the RRP of £19.99 with the following special features, exclusive to the UK release:

• Audio commentary by director Stuart Cooper;
• Interview with Roger Smither, Keeper Of The Archive at the Imperial War Museum;
• Interview with co-star Nicholas Ball;
• A tribute to John Alcott by cinematographer and friend Doug O'Neons;
• A tour of the Imperial War Museum Archives with Roger Smither
• Theatrical trailer;
• Booklet with essays from Stuart Cooper and others.