With the 70th Anniversary of D-Day curently being marked, two lesser seen British WW2 movies, the 1949 Landfall and the 1962 the Silent Invasion, have been digitally restored for DVD release in July by Optimum.

In Landfall (1949), Rick (Michael Denison) is a costal command pilot patrolling the English Channel for U-Boats. He sinks what he believes is an enemy submarine, but which later proves to be British. He is charged with neglect and, in shame, volunteers for a perilous mission. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Mona (Patricia Plunkett), through some odd information she has picked up, is trying to prove that Rick is innocent of the charges and actually did sink a German U-Boat.

Adapted from the novel by Neville Shute by writers Gilbert Gunn and Talbot Jennings (twice Oscar nominated for the 1935 version of Munity on the Bounty and the 1946 Anna and the King of Siam) and directed by Ken Annakin, who was later to make his international mark with Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Battle of the Bulge (both 1965), Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969) and Paper Tiger (1975), it's cast list features a number of familiar faces from the time, including David Tomlinson, A.E. Matthews, Maurice Denham and Laurence Harvey. And if you like playing games with dodgy co-incidences, you'll have fun with the presence of Sebastian Shaw, who went on to play Luke Skywalker's father Sywalker in Return of the Jedi, whose first name is only one letter removed from the surname of this film's director.

In The Silent Invasion (1962), Eric Flynn stars as Captain Von Strafen, the commanding officer of a German force that is occupying a French village during the Second World War, and who does his upmost to gain the villagers' friendship. Resentful of their Nazi oppressors the villagers embark on a programme of sabotage and set out to destroy the German truck convoy. The mission, headed by a man named Argen (André Maranne) with help from Mme. Veroux (Noel Dyson), her young niece Maria (Petra Davies) and nephew Jean (Melvyn Hayes) fails. Jean and Argen are taken prisoner and against Captain Von Strafen's orders they are shot. More bitter then ever, the villagers persuade Maria to obtain information from Von Strafen who, by this time, has fallen in love with her. However, Maria is beginning to fall for the Captain as well, and soon her feelings threaten to divide her loyalties and put her in an impossible situation – endangering her own life, the life of the Captain, and the success of her mission on which the fate of all the villagers hangs...

Written by the insanely prolific Brian Clemens (who had already made his mark with the likes of Danger Man, The Avengers, and a long string of other notable TV and film work) it was directed by Max Varnel, who was later a key director on the Australian kangaroo series Skippy.

Both films are receiving their UK DVD premiere here and will be released individually on 12th July 2010 by Optimum Home Entertainment at the RRP of £15.99 each. No extras have been listed.