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The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
17 October 1951 (USA) moreUser Comments:
A great, well-acted film, ruined somewhat by endless stock footage moreCast
(Complete credited cast)| James Mason | ... | Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel | |
| Cedric Hardwicke | ... | Dr. Karl Strolin | |
| Jessica Tandy | ... | Frau Lucie Marie Rommel | |
| Luther Adler | ... | Adolf Hitler | |
| Everett Sloane | ... | Gen. Wilhelm Burgdorf | |
| Leo G. Carroll | ... | Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt | |
| George Macready | ... | Gen. Fritz Bayerlein | |
| Richard Boone | ... | Capt. Hermann Aldinger | |
| Eduard Franz | ... | Col. Klaus von Stauffenberg | |
| Desmond Young | ... | Himself, Lt. Colonel Desmond Young |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
88 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)Certification:
USA:Approved (PCA #13272) | New Zealand:G | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This film was supposed to feature George Zucco, but the actor had a stroke on the set and was committed to a sanitarium in San Gabriel, California until his death in 1960. moreGoofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Rommel is on his walking tour of the "Atlantic Wall" there is a scene where he and his entourage are walking in front of a gun emplacement fronted with a slope covered with stone blocks. The faintly visible straight shadows indicate, however, that they are walking in front of a painted backdrop. moreQuotes:
Gen. Fritz Bayerlein: I don't know how the men on the line feel about it, but so far as the staff is concerned, I'd just as soon have a commander-in-chief with a little touch of cowardice about him. Just enough to get him back to his headquarters every now and then. moreFAQ
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As a character drama, "The Desert Fox" is a superb film; well-written, intelligent dialogue, likeable and well-developed characters, and no ridiculous, hammy "foreign accents" by the film's mostly British and American actors (except for maybe Luther Adler as Hitler); I would've given this flick a nine, or maybe even a ten, if it hadn't been for the stock footage.
I know this wasn't meant to be a battle-heavy picture, but the continual use of stock footage to supplement for action (esp. the three and a half minute long stretch of D-Day footage) is grating. I had to take off at least a star for that.
Otherwise, this is a great film; well-acted, well-written, and realistic. Mason is good (if not terribly exciting) as Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, my second-favorite military hero in history (after Winfield Scott Hancock, from whom I got my screen name), and the supporting cast is superb as well, standouts being Leo G. Carrol as the somewhat cynical and humanistic yet rigidly loyal Field Marshall Von Rundstedt, and Luther Adler, who (in what is essentially a cameo) portrays Adolf Hitler perfectly - a man who is evil (by most everyone's standards) and flamboyant, with his exaggerated hand movements, eccentric military tactics, and his sudden fits of temper (his dialogue scene with Rommel before he decides to join the plot against Hitler for good) - but also a human side - he listens to his subordinates (though doesn't always agree with them), and he even gets to crack a joke about Herman Goering ("When you are fat you do not move so fast") - both Hitler and Goering had appealing senses of humor, though Goering was obviously the more public joker. You can sense, even in Adler's minimal screen time, how Hitler got to be so powerful.
I give this film eight stars for reasons stated above.