The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)

An infuriatingly uneven biopic, Henry Hathaway's The Desert Fox, is so poorly made that one might be tempted to ignore the topic of Erwin Rommel, a brilliant and chivalrous Wehrmacht commander who was more loyal to his men and patriotic toward Germany than a follower of Hitler.The internal conflict is classic, cut from the same basic cloth as Brutus in Caesar.You would think this film would be riveting. It's not. Even though James Mason is magnificently Prussian as Rommel, and there are several other great performances, we're left with a clunky and truncated story of the man George Patton called a "magnificent bastard."That's a great name for Rommel. Born and bred to an ethic of an earlier time, Rommel became an anachronism to the new and improved concept of warfare in World War II.Yet, if you don't know anything about Erwin Rommel--and you're willing to accept that he has been romanticized by history and Hollywood-- this film is something of a good start.

For years, I avoided watching "The Desert Fox" because I assumed, like most Hollywood produced films of the era that the movie would play fast and loose with the facts. This is just too often the case with bio- pics of the era. So, I am usually much more likely to watch a documentary and get the facts instead of seeing a film which is intended much more as entertainment than a history lesson. And, given that I was a history teacher, of course I'd prefer documentaries. But in this case, I was surprised. While the film was far from perfect, what you saw was true and the filmmakers did a good job of establishing at the beginning that they conducted a lot of interviews in order to tell the story right--including consulting with Rommel's widow. I really appreciate this--and that is why I rate the film an 8. Plus the acting and most of the production were very, very nice.So, is it perfect? Nope. I had a few problems. I usually hate the overuse of stock footage and this film is no exception. In one case, I was really mad because its use was so sloppy. You see an American torpedo plane (an Avenger) become a British fighter plane in mid-air because of sloppy editing! Also, the film is NOT a comprehensive story about Rommel's life or even his life during WWII. It's much more spotty and emphasizes his progression from a loyal officer to a guy who had some knowledge of the plot to kill Hitler and kept his silence because he saw that this mad man was destroying his country. It's not a bad choice to do this sort of study but I would love to have seen more--more about him as a man.By the way, I did laugh at a scene between Rommel and von Rundstedt that would have occurred in June 1944. You see von Rundstedt putting on his scarf and picking up a heavy winter coat at the end of their talk. Where was von Rundstedt stationed...Antarctica?!

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: 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