The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)

James Mason: Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel

Photos 

Quotes 

• Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : [Hitler just sent an order not to retreat from El Alamein]  It's an order, Bayerlein, a military order from General Headquarters. A clear, straight, stupid, criminal military order, from General Headquarters.

  Gen. Fritz Bayerlein : And what are you going to do, double the insanity by obeying it? We've got the best soldiers in the German Army here. They may be just hanging on now, but they're still a force, they're still fighting. If we take them out now, they can fight again tomorrow. But this! This is sheer madness! It's out of the Middle Ages. Nobody had said "Victory or Death" since people fought with bows and arrows. Why, this is an order to throw away an entire army!

  Gen. Schultz : If I may remind you, sir, here in the field, these men are yours, not his.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : I just can't understand it.

  Gen. Fritz Bayerlein : I can. He's insane.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : He's not insane! He's - but neither am I.

  [tears up the message and throws it away] 

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Pull them out, Bayerlein! I'll argue with him about it later.

• Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : You've been uncommonly fortunate, I see, in deathbed confessions.

  Gen. Wilhelm Burgdorf : It's all perfectly legal, I assure you, sir.

• Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : I'm told you once referred to me as a clown. A clown of Hitler's circus.

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : Oh, did I?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : If so, I think you should know that I've been a great deal more explicit about you, many times.

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : Oh, that's quite all right, Field Marshal. I find it almost impossible to keep my mind on anything harsh said about me.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Did you say it?

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : Whoever said it, you've given them ample reason to regret such a foolish remark.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Thank you, Field Marshal.

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : Not at all.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Is there anything else?

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : I don't believe so, at the moment.

  [Rommel salutes and heads for the door] 

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : One suggestion, perhaps, in view of our cordiality. If I were you, I wouldn't be altogether unguarded about what I had to say about this new strategic arrangement. I think you should know that from now on, you'll be under more or less constant observation.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : From Berlin?

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : [shrugs]  Friends of the management, I believe.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Have you any information as to why I should be singled out for such attention?

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : Oh, but you are not, we all are. Apparently you didn't have it in Africa, but here on the continent, it's an honor that goes with staff rank.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : You too?

  Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt : [chuckles]  My dear fellow, I'm the commander-in-chief.

• Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : [describing a meeting with Hitler]  Not that it could really be described as an argument. It's impossible to have an argument with him in the sense that you and I could have an argument. He raves, he screams, he goes into such hysterics that it's like trying to make sense with a panic stricken woman.

  Frau Lucie Marie Rommel : [to Strolin]  He called him a coward!

  Dr. Karl Strolin : [to Rommel]  Did he really use that word to you?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Not once, but several times. In Russia, he said, officers like me have been put against the wall and shot, and almost I think it couldn't happen to me.

  Frau Lucie Marie Rommel : And that was his thanks! That was his gratitude for all that Erwin has done for him.

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : On the other hand, you mustn't hold people too accountable for everything they say when they're emotionally upset. The war is not going well, and he's naturally worried. But I'm afraid it'll be a long time before I forget what he did to the Afrika Korps.

  Dr. Karl Strolin : What was that?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : When the end was near, and I asked him to get them out, he said he had no further interest or concern in the Afrika Korps.

  Frau Lucie Marie Rommel : And that was THEIR thanks!

• Gen. Fritz Bayerlein : Nothing yet, though?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : No, but he

  [Hitler] 

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : knows the situation. I sent him the whole story last night. If there's anything he can do, he will.

  Gen. Fritz Bayerlein : No matter what you say, to Berlin we're only a sideshow - and you know it.

• Dr. Karl Strolin : How do you know this room isn't wired?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : Wired? Why should it be wired?

  Dr. Karl Strolin : Does Himmler have to have a reason for wiring a room?

  Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel : No, I don't suppose he does. But I don't think you have to worry about this one. Why?

  Dr. Karl Strolin : [Places a chair in front of Rommel, and sits down facing him squarely]  Because I want to talk to you without being overheard.