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

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Des Teufels General" "The Devil's General" is a German black-and-white film that had its 60th anniversary last year and stars Curd Jürgens, mostly known for his performances as a Bond villain. Jürgens was one of the most successful German actors at this point and in this film here he shows us why that was the case. He certainly elevates the material. Unfortunately, this is not too big of a challenge as I must say the material by writer and director Helmut Käutner is not particularly good or memorable. I definitely believe Harry Harras, a man who really existed, deserved a better film made about him. If you know Graf Stauffenberg, then you will know the general direction this film is taking. It is about a very successful German military general during the days of the Nazi reign and World War II, but things take a turn for the worse for him when his loyalty to Reichsfüührer Adolf Hitler begins more and more to crumble. Catastrophe is inevitable, for the Nazis and for Harras. The films runs for almost 2 hours and I felt there were many moments when it dragged, so it should have been kept shorter I think, maybe at 100 minutes max, the runtime of most German films from around that era. As a whole, I cannot recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

cynthiahost Remember the producers? Their broad way musical springtime for Hitler? Well in that play the fictitious Broadway Musical made fun of the Nazi's.Carl Zuckmeyers play,made into a film does this dramatically. It's told form a German view point on why they made this mistake in supporting Hitler.Victor Dekowa has always played kind roles ,when he was working under the real Nazi dictatorship. Now he plays a meaty role .An A-hole, SS Leader Scmidt the worst bad character in this film. Dekowa ,that year ,would play a victim of the Nazi government too.Big Band leader Kurt Widmann. Victor must of been an anti Nazi passive.Would Hienz Ruhmann played the same bad guy if the role was offer to him?I don't know. S.s. leader is spying on Industrialist leader or manager of plane craft ,Harry Harras, played Wonderfully by Kurd Jurgens. He's an alcoholic and lusts women.He parties as much as possible.This is suppose to put the idea that Nazi's were womanizers and drunks.He hates the Nazi party he wishes that he did not have to deal with it.Head of the S.s, is spying on him and catches him while he's drunk.He gets arrested a, like Hans Bruasewetter did for being too open against the Nazis'.He's psychologically torturer in prison for weeks. Then all of a sudden he's let out.Victor claims it was a mistake.Then Kurd discovers it wasn't a mistake when he saw a wink . Then he realizes the truth.Now he has to do something about it.The other cast includes Carl Ludwig Deahl,who is the president of the industrial complex ,I think.His character is secretly Jewish an is involved in the under ground against the Nazis,as it is learned later when he commits suicide with a fellow Jew at the park.Harry Meyens ,who was in Darling of the gods, portrays Lieutenant Hartman, who engage to the presidents daughter, the youngest daughter Waltraut, played by Eva Ingebord Scholz, for whom he gets injured ,later on, so then Kurd can take what it requires to make up for his won mistakes Karl John portrays the Engineer of the air craft company, who wore the same uniform when he worked under the Nazi dictatorship, when he starred in the romantic Two in the city, 1942. Camillia Spira portrayed a opera singer and friend of Harry Hass. She worked under the third Reich too as an actress but had to leave Germany in 1938 cause her father Fritz was Jewish He got murdered in a concentration camp and She and her family were put in one until she lied about being Jewish ,which got her out .Marianne Koch,the youngest actress in the film portrays, Dorothy the niece of Olivia.She's an actress too and falls for Harry.This is from a German view point. The party scene celebrating Haas getting an award ,the Nazi citizens and soldiers, upper officials, are acting like normal humans.They with the women are singing and dancing to their favorite pop songs of the time .It isn't marching music or waltzes neither. If the American film makers were to have made this, they would be portrayed as monsters.Cold.The music would be Waltzes or no music at all.they all be talking about Hitler and their plans to controlled the world so the Nazi character are portrayed as human with imperfections.Would Turner classic movies ever premier this? Coming from the German point of view .I don't know.It's available on d.v.d . still 11/23/12

diebestefrau A movie that I saw for the first time decades ago and numerous times since! Every time I watch it, I discover new facets in Harras'personality. On one hand he is the tough guy, the party animal, the womanizer; however, he shows his softer, almost romantic side when he meets Diddo Geiss. I think that the movie could be a wonderful teaching tool, because it illustrates how "non-political", even rebellious Germans were drawn into the Nazi ideology and paid the ultimate price! Udo Jürgens and Marianne Koch were fabulous together! I would recommend this film for upper level German classes in the US. It is a good addition to "Die weisse Rose" or "Sophie Scholl".

andre-71 This is a tranquil but disturbing film about a disputatious general trying to get along with the Nazi system. And even though the film does not live on action but on good dialogues, its appeal is quite different to that of the theatrical play. The movie is a classic.