A “moving” and largely overlooked film from the 1970s about the D-Day landings is being praised as “more realistic” than contemporary portrayals of the battle.

Overlord (1975) follows the journey of Thomas Beddows (Brian Stirner), a young British soldier from his conscription into the East Yorkshire Regiment, through basic training and eventual deployment in the Allies’ historic amphibious assault on German-occupied Normandy in June 1944 (codenamed Operation Overlord).

The film, directed and co-written by Stuart Cooper, weaves together genuine archive footage of the momentous military campaign with scenes of Tom contemplating his own mortality and the terrors that lie ahead.

Screenrant contributor Tommy Lethbridge noted that while it lacks the raw, visceral immersion of the D-Day sequences found in Steven Spielberg‘s landmark 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, Overlord ultimately delivers a more “authentic” portrayal of the confrontation between Allied and German forces.

This, he contended, is owing to Overlord’s use of archival material, alongside the inclusion of “extensive detail from real soldiers’ diaries, clips from British Army training missions”, and captured German footage, all of which lend the production “unrivalled authenticity”.

Fans have rushed to IMDb to heap praise on the lesser-known war epic, with one writing: “The archival footage which makes up much of the film’s most stunning imagery is meticulously chosen and edited; it frequently becomes Tom’s dreams and visions of the War as it unfolds, and for the viewer, it is a vision of what WWII was, seen from both German and British sides.

“Cooper so masterfully situates Tom, an everyman, in visions of the surrounding war, that by the end of this surprisingly short, yet incredibly rich film, the magnitude of the toll the war took on the individuals fighting it becomes overwhelmingly moving.”

Another wrote: “If you watched Saving Private Ryan, go and see this film too. It’s totally different, but it deals with the personal feelings of a private much better, no battle scenes, just the perfect backdrop about a normal soldier going off to war, knowing what will happen.”

A third said it is “not your average war film”, adding: “There’s very little in the way of dramatised battle scenes as it shows one soldier’s path to one of the most important, pivotal battles of all time: his farewells with family, his journey to his unit, his training, his preparation for Overlord.

“No heroics, no jingoism, just the reality of what soldiers go through in becoming soldiers and how they handle the fact that eventually they’ll need to use this training in deadly earnest.”

A fourth viewer wrote: “It’s a sad tale, one of the forgotten men in a conflict long ago, but its universality still stands strong.”

Overlord, which carries a 15 certificate, can be bought or rented on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.