Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

jc-osms What an interesting film to watch and consider. I must I find it hard to credit Hollywood producing a film celebrating Hitler's greatest general a mere 6 years after the end of the war, even if the Hitler assassination plot had become widely known about in the interim. It was down to Rommell after all that a lot of Allied soldiers lost their lives but then I guess that is the controversial "Rommell Effect" in action, where a halo of greatness and decency appears to have been attached to Germany's top general. Interesting too to read that Warner Brothers, of Jewish heritage of course, refused to show the film in any of their theatres at the time. Perhaps it was made as a sop to foster good relations with post war West Germany especially as the Iron Curtain was descending over Europe and Berlin in particular at that time.Putting all that aside it's certainly a well made film and boasts a superb performance by James Mason in the title role. He plays the part of Rommell with great confidence and pretty much carries the film on his own shoulders. Elsewhere the editing of the film is both good and bad. There's a tense and exciting pre-title sequence as a group of British commandos attempt to assassinate Rommell, this many years before the James Bond franchise, to name but one, took it up as a trademark introduction to most of their films. However, the editing in of stock Second World War footage doesn't work very well and there are also some very obvious process shots of characters standing in front of painted backdrops.The film certainly does its job of humanising the great general, crediting him with being one of the anti-Hitler sympathisers, although it's at least at pains to suggest he was far from being the most outspoken or active of the conspirators. Elsewhere he's shown to be an honourable soldier, loving family man and ultimately a brave man accepting suicide when forced to do so by Hitler's underlings. Although it's held back, we do also get to see Rommell meeting Hitler and even a dramatisation of the failed attempt on the Fuhrer's life.Like I said at the start, I watched this film with mixed feelings, perhaps thinking it wasn't Hollywood's place to make such a film. What I'll remember most is Mason's excellent acting above all else, which I believe, is probably for the best.

James Hitchcock "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

JoeB131 Rommel has always been one of those figures that has gone against the grain of "Axis Evil/Allies Good" in WWII. A solid general who acted honorably and even impressed his enemies. His involvement with the attempt to assassinate Hitler was probably more peripheral than this film made it out to be.This film tries it best to make Rommel into the elusive "Good German", the guy who knew Hitler was a jerkwad, but still tried to do his duty. The Good German was a myth. Those who turned against Hitler turned against him because Germany was losing the war. BUt it was a useful myth in 1951, when there was an attempt to turn the defeated Axis powers into valued allies. By 1951, Russia was the enemy, Germany was a friend, and a noble German to be praised was a godsend.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.