The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)

Admirable film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel" is an excellent film about Erwin Johannes Rommel during World War II. He was Germany's most famous military leader and one of the greatest military leaders of the war and of the 20th century. The movie is based on a book by a British brigadier, Desmond Young, "Rommel: The Desert Fox." Young was a British officer in North Africa who was captured by Rommel's forces and who saw Rommel just once. Young was so impressed with the man, especially his adherence to proper war protocol regarding treatment of POWs, that at war's end, he decided to write about him. For the next five years he researched the man, interviewed hundreds of people, and visited with Rommel's widow and son.To this day, there still is controversy over Rommel's possible role in the July 1944 plot to kill Hitler. This movie skirts the issue and shows Rommel's hesitancy to be involved in the plot. He knew several of the people who were directly involved, and some had approached him about taking a leadership role after Hitler had been overthrown. But an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica asserts that the plotters "never revealed to Rommel that they planned to assassinate Hitler." Rommel "did not accept the idea of murder for political ends." He had disregarded orders for executions that he received from Hitler. He was a favorite commander of Hitler, and on several occasions, he urged Hitler to end the war and seek peace. But he never became a member of the Nazi party.The movie shows the last three years of Rommel's life. It opens when he is in command of the German Afrika Corps. And it ends when he left his home on Oct. 14, 1944, with two generals sent by Hitler. To ensure his family's safety and provision after he was gone, Rommel agreed to take poison. Hitler's had him buried as a national hero who died from the injuries he received in the strafing pictured in the film.Rommel's last command was preparing the German coastal forces for the Allied invasion that was to come. But, it's interesting to note that contrary to most war films, Rommel did not think the invasion would be in Normandy. He agreed with the German high command and Hitler and thought that the real invasion would be at Calais. So, when the Allies landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944, he too thought it was a diversion meant to draw defenses away from Calais.James Mason does a superb job as Rommel, and all the rest of the cast are very good. This is an interesting biopic and war film.

This film was made just a few years after World War 2 ended and Rommel's wife acted as a technical consultant which lends an authenticity to the film.Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was respected by the Allies especially with his daring campaign is North Africa but the reality was that he gained knowledge due to the breaking of the coded messages from a British soldier.The disappointment I felt that despite some use of archive footage we never see this side of Rommel, the desert fox.What we get is a stricken soldier fighting ill health and fighting his doubts about Hitler which leads to a tenuous link with the attempt to assassinate Hitler, events which were later dealt with in the Tom Cruise film, Valkyrie.James Mason gives a respectful portrayal of a soldier that was admired in some quarters by his enemies. Its a daring film to be made so soon after the war. There is an early film appearance by future Oscar winner, Jessica Tandy who plays his loyal wife.I felt the film could had been better with more substance and more insight of this tactician of desert warfare.

Very good for its day. James Mason does an excellent job as German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Very little in the way of combat, action - when battle scenes are shown, they are stock film clips from WW2. This movie is basically a bio of the Field Marshall from his "Desert Fox" days of the Afrika Korps to the his death in 1944.If you did not know anything of Rommel, I think you'd like the movie. It is a very sympathetic portrayal of one of the most capable German Generals in WW2, but it's not all that simple. He was an ardent Nazi and served as the commander of Hitlers bodyguard in the early part of the war.It can be preachy at times, and some of the war scenes are cheesy - you can certainly tell which are clips, when painted backgrounds are used. Not big on technical effects. Historians love to debate who was a better General Patton or Rommel. Putting that aside, Patton was a better movie than this.

Disappointing film, not because of the usually great James Mason, but more rather due than a completely lackluster script.George MacReady was always known to be sinister in films but in this one we see no evidence of that. He is rather bland as a Nazi army officer. Jessica Tandy was completely miscast in the role of Frau Rommel. She is rather droll and lacks sincere compassion at the end when her husband learns his fate.Jewish actor Luther Adler is briefly shown as Hitler and he does a masterful job. The contortions on his face tell the whole story of an insane leader in desperation and denial by 1943.The film lacks total excitement and even the plot itself is staged too quickly. We needed to see the preparation in the failed attempt to assassinate the German misery.