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Out of 20th Century Fox, The Desert Fox is directed by Henry Hathaway and adapted for the screen by Nunnally Johnson (also producing) from the biography of Erwin Rommel written by Brigadier Desmond Young. It stars James Mason as Rommel who in turn is supported by Cedric Hardwicke, Jessica Tandy, Luther Adler, Everett Sloane, Leo Carroll, George Macready & Richard Boone.

Possibly the first mainstream film to boldly humanise a German military leader, The Desert Fox is propelled by a mesmerising performance by Mason and backed up by Johnson's literate script. It condenses Young's biography into just an hour and half of film, but in that relatively short running time the makers have done enough to give decent insight into a man who the opposition had much respect for. The plot basically takes us on Rommel's journey from victories in North Africa, where he is loyally followed by the Afrika Korps, to his defeat at El Alamein (infuriating Hitler by disregarding orders), to French coastal defences, his role in the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler and his subsequent death by military command. Shot in a sort of semi-documentary style by Hathaway, with stock war footage flitting in and out of the film, it's credit to Hathaway that the direction is pacey and doesn't get bogged down by the necessary long passages of dialogue exchanges. The support cast all do fine work, with Adler's cameo as the Fuhrer particularly memorable, while the overriding satisfaction comes from finally seeing a Hollywood production capable of an even handed and sympathetic portrait of a opposition leader.

Good adult cinema. 7/10

THE DESERT FOX – 1951 James Mason is really top flight in this film about the WW Two German commander, Erwin Rommel. A very watchable film considering how little actual combat scenes are in the production.

Most of the film deals with his growing dislike of Hitler and his mob. It suggests that Rommel was involved in the plot to kill Hitler. From what I've read on the subject, there seems to be little solid proof either way.

The failure of the assassination, lead to the death of several thousand of those involved. Rommel was forced to commit suicide in order to save his family.

Mason keeps this one rolling with help from Cedric Hardwicke and a great bit by Luther Adler as Adolf Hitler. Veteran director Henry (True Grit) Hathaway handles the story with a nice even pace.

It is really about time that someone made a film about his World War one battles that won him the Blue Max. Or something on his dash to the coast in the Battle of France as well as his early battles with the Afrika Korps.

Having said that, don't let that stop you from watching this one. It is a film well worth the time investment.

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was a complicated man, both more and less than the romanticized figure that Desmond Young's biography and the movie based on it present us with. Like Oliver Cromwell, he should really be seen as he was, warts and all.

Rommel (James Mason) was vain, for one thing. He'd won the Pour le Merit in World War I and made sure he wore it. He was sensitive. His letters to his wife, Lucie (Jessica Tandy), are filled with admiration for the flowers that abounded in Libya during the Spring. He had a slight but distinct sense of humor. The Italian General Ettore Bastico became Bombastico in Rommel's lexicon. And a more thorough investigation of the man suggests he wasn't very political after all. He may not have even had a clear idea of the plot.

But the war in Northern Africa was a peculiar war from beginning to end. The chivalry shown by Rommel and Desmond Young at the beginning is thoroughly believable. The British managed at one point in the see-saw battle to capture an Italian aristocrat. When the Italian government offered money for the man's return, the offended POW refused to be released, claiming the offer wasn't high enough. I know. That has nothing to do with the movie but I thought it was pretty funny.

The story itself, at least as rendered here, is probably familiar to those with any degree of historical maturity. Rommel is "the desert fox," constantly outwitting the Allies in North Africa, until the Afrika Korps is bled white by lack of supplies. Back in Germany Rommel is contacted by conspirators in the plot against Hitler, the "July plot," including an old friend played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, he of the magnificent voice. Rommel reluctantly joins the plot, although exactly what his role was is never made clear. There is a reference to his "leadership," but apparently all he wanted to do was make peace with the British, French, and Americans in order to fight the Russians more efficiently. In any case, his involvement is discovered. (After the attempt on his life, Hitler had 5,000 people executed, some by hanging them from meat hooks and filming them while they strangled to death in nooses made of piano wire.) Rommel is permitted to take poison in order to preserve his reputation and insure the safety of his family.

James Mason does pretty well by the role. Too well. A few years later he was to reprise the role but, after the criticism this earlier film received for treating Rommel too sympathetically, Mason reverted to the stereotype, a sneering Nazi with an atrocious accent. As his wife, Jessica Tandy, Broadway's first Blanche Dubois, has a face that combines plainness with nobility. She's a fine actress but isn't on screen that much. As von Runstedt, Leo G. Carroll is more grim and sarcastic than usual. Luther Adler as Hitler is plain hilarious. There must be more subtle ways of suggesting megalomania. George MacReady, a nice guy from Providence, Rhode Island, is a Prussian-looking man whether he likes it or not.

But it's pleasing to the eye to see so many actors strutting around in those great German uniforms -- the medals, the riding breeches, the leather boots. It must be wonderful to be a man like Rommel, who can enter a crowded office and crisply -- without even looking at him -- tell his aide to "clear this room." Who wouldn't love to be able to do that? I mean, to clear a room without using a gun.

Fun, too, to see the occasional news footage of artillery firing and tanks blowing up. By the end of the African campaign, the Afrika Korps was so short of fuel that, if they had a dozen tanks, they were draining half of them to keep the other half moving. There is nothing about Kasserine Pass and the American debacle there -- not in 1951 there isn't.

The director was Henry Hathway, "a man's director," who gave directions loudly and drank voluminously. The music follows Max Steiner's Mickey Mouse model. The action on screen is imitated by the score. Listen to it when the parachutists leap from their airplanes.

This movie really ought to be seen, especially by those unfamiliar with World War II or without perspective on any war at all. It raises interesting philosophical dilemmas. Okay, you're a soldier and you follow orders. But suppose the order are given to you by someone who is insane or close to it? It might be called "The Captain Queeg Problem." Anyway, it humanizes the enemy instead of demonizing him, which might prompt some viewers to think twice about killing those who disagree with us.

"True Grit" director Henry Hathaway tackled a controversial subject with his 1951 World War II biography epic "The Desert Fox" with British actor James Mason impersonating this highly regarded Teutonic tank warrior. When Twentieth Century Fox released this movie, many critics and moviegoers thought that what Hathaway and scenarist Nunnally Johnson had produced was nothing short of hero worship for one of Hitler's henchmen. Based on the biography by British officer Desmond Young, "The Desert Fox" devotes most of its concise 88-minutes looks to the last days of Rommel after a preliminary glance at his career with the Afrika Korps. Generally, the focus of this movie is the part that Rommel played in the 20th July Hitler bomb plot. Rommel is a soldier first but second he believes that Hitler has gone mad, principally because he demands life or death service to the Third Reich. Rommel refuses to waste the lives of his valiant men.

History reveals that Rommel played no part in the bomb plot. Here, Rommel does not play a major role but he supports the idea. Nevertheless, he tries to change the mind of Adolf Hitler and reasons with him in one scene. Luther Adler portrays Hitler as an infantile leader prone to temper tantrums of rage. Several other historic high-ranking German leaders appear in "The Desert Fox." Eventually, Rommel must commit suicide because he has been implicated in the bomb plot and wants to secure the safety of his wife and son. James Mason is, of course, outstanding and makes Rommel look like a kindly, sympathetic man with a high sense of morality.

No, "The Desert Fox" is not a battle-oriented movie with combat. Hathaway drew virtually all the battle footage from archival sources, with a glimpse of U.S. General George Patton in one scene. In other scenes, he relies on pretty obvious back projection techniques. In other words, most of "The Desert Fox" is about soldiers discussing orders, situations, and predicaments. Richard Boone, later of "Have Gun, Will Travel," plays an aide to Rommel. Apparently, the filmmakers felt that they could whitewash Rommel by his stand against Hitler. Hathaway spends at least five minutes on the details of the bomb plot and Hitler's survival. Rommel appears to have been a model husband and he never loses his temper, even when he disapproves of the subject of conversation.

The opening, pre-credit sequence where British commandos attack headquarters hoping to kill Rommel is the best action scene in the film. Such was the uproar that "The Desert Fox" spawned that Twentieth Century Fox produced a sequel "The Desert Rats," starring Richard Burton, wherein Rommel did not receive a sympathetic portrayal. Twenty years later, when director Henry Hathaway made "Raid on Rommel," he included a scene with the famous Field Marshall arguing with a British doctor about stamps. Hathaway did not direct "The Desert Rats." Instead, Robert Wise helmed that war adventure.

Indeed, there are many inaccuracies in "The Desert Fox." The planes that strafe Rommel's command car change between the first time that we see them and when they actually riddle his command car.