The Night of the Generals (1967)

The murder of a prostitute in Nazi occupied Warsaw draws Wehrmacht Major Grau into an investigation where the evidence points to one of three high ranking Generals. The trail leads Grau ... See full summary »

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Joseph Kessel (adapted for the screen by), Paul Dehn (adapted for the screen by),

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter O'Toole	...	General Tanz
Omar Sharif	...	Major Grau
Tom Courtenay	...	Corporal Hartmann
Donald Pleasence	...	General Kahlenberge
Joanna Pettet	...	Ulrike
Philippe Noiret	...	Inspector Morand
Charles Gray	...	General von Seidlitz-Gabler
Coral Browne	...	Eleanore von Seidlitz-Gabler
John Gregson	...	Colonel Sandauer
Nigel Stock	...	Otto
Christopher Plummer	...	Field Marshal Rommel
Juliette Gréco	...	Juliette (as Juliette Greco)
Yves Brainville	...	Liesowski
Sacha Pitoëff	...	Doctor (as Sacha Pitoeff)
Charles Millot	...	Wionczek

Storyline

The murder of a prostitute in Nazi occupied Warsaw draws Wehrmacht Major Grau into an investigation where the evidence points to one of three high ranking Generals. The trail leads Grau from Warsaw to Paris and straight into the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, of which two of the Generals are deeply involved. Grau's case goes unfinished and it is not until 1965 when the true killer is brought to justice.

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Plot Keywords:

general | murder | hitler | major | prostitute | 

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Taglines:

A unique manhunt across the capitals of Europe... across three decades up to today!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK France

Language:

English Italian Spanish French

Release Date:

24 February 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Noite dos Generais

Filming Locations:

Hamburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Horizon Pictures (II), Filmsonor

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) Mono (Westrex Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of General Tanz was influenced by the career and reputation of real-life Panzer (tank) officer Col. Joachim Peiper, the youngest man in the SS to be make the rank of full colonel (SS-Standartenführer, the direct SS equivalent to an Oberst or full colonel in the German army). Peiper - a protégé of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the second most powerful man in Germany after Adolf Hitler - was promoted to the rank at the age of 29. It was Peiper's unit of the Waffen-SS, Kampfgruppe Peiper of the 1st SS Division, Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (German for "Adolf Hitler's Bodyguard Regiment"), that was responsible for the Malmedy massacre of captured American soldiers depicted in the earlier film Battle of the Bulge (where a character directly based on Peiper was played by Robert Shaw). After the war, Peiper was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted by American occupation authorities, as the trial had been fraught with illegalities, and he served only 11 years in prison, despite having perpetrated war crimes on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Peiper - who was still living at the time the film was shot - was assassinated at his home in France, likely by French communists, in 1976.

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Goofs

When Inspector Hauser confronts General Tanz at the divisional reunion, the name of his Hamburg victim, Erica Muller, is poorly overdubbed in a glaringly different tone.

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Quotes

General Tanz: [to Hartmann] I don't want to have to blow your handsome head to pieces.

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Connections

Referenced in Valkyrie (2008)

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Soundtracks

"ALTE KAMERADEN (OLD COMRADES)"
(uncredited)
Music by Carl Teike

User Reviews

Nice mix of genres

"What is admirable on the large scale is monstrous on the small."

It's Agatha Christie meets "The Battle of the Bulge" meets... oh you get the picture. Great cast lead by the always fabulous Peter O'Toole who delivers a memorable performance as General Tanz. Also nice to see French veteran actor Philippe Noiret in an ensemble that includes Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence and Christopher Plummer.

It is tense all the way mostly thanks to the great use of – first Warsaw (and the atrocities performed there) as a backdrop for the story and then we move to Paris where the plot to kill Hitler is nicely interwoven.

"The Night of the Generals" is at parts predictable, yes, (with the great exception of Omar Sharif's final scene) but I guess that's also what makes it kinda' enjoyable at times - at least in the very last scene - when you know what's coming (and boy does it feel good).

Some may find it a bit tedious and yes it is long, but when it was over I knew I would definitely see it again sometime in the future so in short: it works! If you think this movie is your cup of tea, based on the IMDb-information, you're probably right.

8/10