Wick's Review

Summary - Really Great 4.5

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel – the Desert Fox – was Nazi Germany’s national hero, their military icon. Hitler needed him, couldn’t kill him, so he had Rommel kill himself. Absolute evil, thy name is Hitler.

That and more make The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel a touchstone World War II movie, simply essential history and drama. Three points make the case for the movie’s importance and resonance.

• The Desert Fox incorporates documentary footage of North Africa, France & the Atlantic Wall.
• The Desert Fox came out a mere nine years after Montgomery defeated Rommel at El Alamein.
• The Desert Fox has James Mason as a moviestar-handsome Rommel, speaking as a highborn Brit.

Sir Winston Churchill closes out the movie with a sad benediction for Germany’s last chivalrous knight.

In the sombre wars of modern democracy, chivalry finds no place.

Acting - Great 4.0

James Mason is straight-from-central casting as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. An all-time great leading man, Mason’s affecting performance reaches true pathos as he tenderly bids goodbye to his wife and son at the bitter end. Mason again played Rommel two years later in The Desert Rats.

• Jessica Tandy transfixes as Rommel’s wife, Frau Lucie Rommel.
• William Reynolds as Manfred Rommel, their son
• Cedric Hardwicke as Dr. Karl Strölin
• Luther Adler gives Adolf Hitler a believable gravitas and craziness. Adler, a Jew, played Hitler three times in his career. He’s the brother of Stella Adler, the famous acting teacher.
• Eduard Franz plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was later played by Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. The plot to kill Hitler got its first big-screen exposure in The Desert Fox.
• Everett Sloane as General Wilhelm Burgdorf
• Leo G. Carroll as Field Marshal Gerd von Lundstedt
• George Macready as General Fritz Bayerlein, Rommel’s Afrika Korps subordinate
• Richard Boone as Captain Hermann Aldinger
• Don De Leo as Maj. Gen. Ernst Maisel
• John Hoyt as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel

Film - Really Great 4.5

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel is one of the classic World War II films, full of whistling bombs, machine guns and other WWII tropes. Its use of documentary WWII footage was pathbreaking.

Several settings clearly created the archetypes for future Nazi-inspired stories. For instance, the control room of a massive artillery emplacement in the Atlantic Wall brings to mind the workshop of the Nazi villain in Captain America.

Edge - Risqué 2.1

Reality - Glib 1.2

The Desert Fox gives a very sympathetic portrayal of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, an officer who served the most evil regime in human history. Did Rommel deserve such hagiography? Sir Winston Churchill’s sympathetic benediction in the nearby video strongly suggests he did.

Classic Movie Hub has several interesting facts about the film.

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