"The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel" is a remarkable film, although not necessarily because of the acting, directing or script. It is remarkable because it is an American biography of a senior German officer, with a predominantly British cast, which takes a sympathetic view of its subject even though it was made in 1951, only six years after the end of the war, and at a time when many Americans and Britons would still have harboured bitter feelings towards all things German, especially that country's military establishment.
Despite the title "The Desert Fox", the North Africa campaign of World War II plays a relatively minor role in the film. The battle of El Alamein in 1942 comes surprisingly early in the film and is given surprisingly little emphasis. The film is less about Rommel's career as commander of the Afrika Korps than about his part in the July 20th plot to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazi regime. The Rommel we initially see is an apolitical career officer, neither a Nazi party member nor a convinced anti-Nazi, but after El Alamein and the defeat of the German forces in Africa he gradually becomes disillusioned with the course the war is taking and becomes convinced that Hitler is leading Germany to disaster. Eventually he is persuaded to join the conspiracy by an old friend, Dr. Karl Strölin.
This was the first of two films in which James Mason played Rommel; the other was "The Desert Rats" from two years later, and gives a calm and authoritative performance as an honourable commander who is prepared to sacrifice his life in an attempt to free his country from a tyrannical dictatorship. The other performance which stands out is from Luther Adler as a ranting, deranged Hitler, convinced in the face of all the evidence of his own military genius. Adler, incidentally, was Jewish, something which will doubtless cause great annoyance to Hitler should this film ever be shown at the local cinema in Hell. (Mason himself had been a conscientious objector during the war, so it is perhaps ironic that he should have portrayed one of that war's great heroes).
The film contains one historical inaccuracy in that it implies that Rommel's superior, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, was aware of the July 20th plot and wished it well, without actually participating in it. In reality von Rundstedt was outraged by the plot and even served on the "Court of Honour" which tried those plotters who were members of the Wehrmacht. The film also, perhaps, fails to ask awkward questions about whether Rommel and the German Resistance could have done more earlier in the war to oppose Hitler or whether they would have acted in 1944 had the military tide still been running in Germany's favour.
Nevertheless, "The Desert Fox" is a good film, a war film which shows that heroic acts can be performed away from the actual battlefield. It also deserves praise for its generous recognition of the facts that honour in war was not the sole prerogative of the Anglo-Americans, that not every German was a Nazi and that our late enemies were also capable of decency and humanity. 7/10
Despite the title "The Desert Fox", the North Africa campaign of World War II plays a relatively minor role in the film. The battle of El Alamein in 1942 comes surprisingly early in the film and is given surprisingly little emphasis. The film is less about Rommel's career as commander of the Afrika Korps than about his part in the July 20th plot to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazi regime. The Rommel we initially see is an apolitical career officer, neither a Nazi party member nor a convinced anti-Nazi, but after El Alamein and the defeat of the German forces in Africa he gradually becomes disillusioned with the course the war is taking and becomes convinced that Hitler is leading Germany to disaster. Eventually he is persuaded to join the conspiracy by an old friend, Dr. Karl Strölin.
This was the first of two films in which James Mason played Rommel; the other was "The Desert Rats" from two years later, and gives a calm and authoritative performance as an honourable commander who is prepared to sacrifice his life in an attempt to free his country from a tyrannical dictatorship. The other performance which stands out is from Luther Adler as a ranting, deranged Hitler, convinced in the face of all the evidence of his own military genius. Adler, incidentally, was Jewish, something which will doubtless cause great annoyance to Hitler should this film ever be shown at the local cinema in Hell. (Mason himself had been a conscientious objector during the war, so it is perhaps ironic that he should have portrayed one of that war's great heroes).
The film contains one historical inaccuracy in that it implies that Rommel's superior, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, was aware of the July 20th plot and wished it well, without actually participating in it. In reality von Rundstedt was outraged by the plot and even served on the "Court of Honour" which tried those plotters who were members of the Wehrmacht. The film also, perhaps, fails to ask awkward questions about whether Rommel and the German Resistance could have done more earlier in the war to oppose Hitler or whether they would have acted in 1944 had the military tide still been running in Germany's favour.
Nevertheless, "The Desert Fox" is a good film, a war film which shows that heroic acts can be performed away from the actual battlefield. It also deserves praise for its generous recognition of the facts that honour in war was not the sole prerogative of the Anglo-Americans, that not every German was a Nazi and that our late enemies were also capable of decency and humanity. 7/10