"The war machine keeps growing, and I am getting smaller and smaller."
Overlord is a 1975 film from Britain directed by Stuart Cooper.
It is set in 1944 and follows the experiences of a single private soldier named Tommy Beddowes (Brian Stirner). Tommy leaves his family, catches a train, and reports to basic training. He goes through an unpleasant, dehumanizing basic training experience. On occasional moments of liberty, he goes to movies, and in one instance has an awkward encounter with a prostitute. He also meets a pretty girl at a dance, but he misses his scheduled second date with her, because his unit is sent to a staging area—from which they depart for Sword Beach
on June 6, 1944.
Not to be confused with a completely different 2018 film called Overlord, or for that matter any other work named for Operation Overlord, the code name for the D-Day landings.
Tropes:
- Afraid of Needles: Tommy faints during boot camp when he's getting a shot. He later admits that he's afraid of needles.
- All for Nothing: After the whole boot camp experience, Tommy never even sets foot on Sword Beach. He is shot through the head and killed by a German sniper in the landing craft as it is still approaching the beach.
- Art Imitates Art: Tommy's dream in which he is shot and killed on the sands of Sword Beach has him being shot in a manner highly reminscent of Robert Capa's iconic photo "The Falling Soldier", which showsnote a soldier getting shot down by a sniper during the Spanish Civil War.
- Boot Camp Episode: Tommy's time in basic training is about the most unpleasant depiction of basic training there is this side of Full Metal Jacket, showing the whole experience to be degrading and dehumanizing.
- Cannon Fodder: Discussed Trope, as one of Tommy's friends states directly that they are "cannon fodder". And in fact they are, as were all the soldiers at D-Day, sent into the teeth of German defenses with no protection.
- Dances and Balls: Tommy is given liberty, and he goes to a dance staged for British soldiers. He dances with a pretty girl named Janey and kisses her afterwards.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Filmed in black and white, to give the film a period feel, to establish a suitably grim mood as Tommy has persistent premonitions of death, and to blend Tommy's story with the stock footage that makes up a goodly chunk of the movie.
- Downer Ending: Tommy is killed at Sword Beach—in fact, he's killed in the landing craft before he even gets to Sword Beach.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Tommy has a dream where he's killed on Sword Beach. He later has a more symbolic dream where Janey says "Shall I show you how we prepare the dead?" and lays him out like a corpse. He is, in fact, killed during the landing.
- Dream Sequence: Several. Tommy dreams of being shot and killed on the beach, he dreams of finding the corpse of a German soldier, he dreams of kissing Janey in the landing craft.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The corporal in charge of Tommy's barracks and unit, who is a real a-hole. When Tommy first shows up, the corporal takes malicious pleasure in making Tommy pick up his bag, leave the barracks, knock on the door, and ask permission to enter. Said corporal continues to be mean and unpleasant throughtout Tommy's boot camp experience.
- Fan Disservice: Janey strips Tommy naked and then takes her own top off. This comes in a symbolic Dream Sequence where Janey says "Shall I show you how we prepare the dead?", and then strips him like one would a body being prepared for burial.
- Fatal Family Photo: Played with in a dream sequence where Tommy goes through the pockets of a dead German soldier. He finds a lock of hair, and a photo of the German soldier himself, but no family photo.
- Ironic Juxtaposition: A scene in which a baby is being christened is intercut with stock footage of British children being put on trains and evacuated, to protect them from German bombing.
- Significant Name: Tommy Beddowes. "Tommy" of course is a long-time traditional name for the British common soldier. It is used here as symbolism to emphasize Tommy's everyman ordinariness.
- Stock Footage: At least a quarter of the film is stock footage of combat and other World War II scenes—burnt corpses from bombing raids, bombed-out buildinds, a clip of Adolf Hitler gazing out of the window of his plane, a training sequence in which British soldiers attempt to land an open boat on a craggy coast in high seas. One notable clip is the failed test of the Panjandrum, a frankly ridiculous giant wheel powered by rockets which was supposed to be used to break through German coastal defenses. The fact that the rest of the movie is also shot in black and white with period-appropriate cameras resulted in the combat footage blending in seamlessly.
- Voiceover Letter: As Tommy writes a letter home we hear him in voiceover. He makes the typical rote soldier comments, before baldly stating that he feels like he will be killed in the invasion that will take place very soon. He tells his parents not to grieve. Later, he burns the letter instead of sending it.
- War Is Hell: A young man in the prime of his life is dragged from home and sent to storm a beach, where he is killed. This theme is further underlined by the stock footage clips showing the death and devastation of aerial bombing, including burnt corpses laid out on a street somewhere.
