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The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel

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Wikipedia article




'The Desert Fox' is a 1951 American biographical war film from 20th Century Fox about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of World War II. It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book 'Rommel: The Desert Fox' by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the British Indian Army in North Africa.

The movie played a significant role in the creation of the Rommel myth: that Rommel was an apolitical, brilliant commander, opposed Nazi policies and was a victim of the Third Reich because of his participation in the conspiracy to remove Adolf Hitler from power in 1944.[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Erwin_J_E_Rommel/_v1bAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Rommel%20removal%20of%20Hitler%20from%20power Rice, Earle. 'Erwin J. E. Rommel'. New York: Infobase Learning/Chelsea House, 2013.]

The black and white format facilitates the spreading of large sections of actual documentary footage of war action etc. throughout the film. Finnish president and Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim's personal Mercedes-Benz 770, a gift he had personally received from Adolf Hitler, was used as a prop car in the during the film's shooting and appears.

Plot



November 1941, North Africa. A British commando unit, ordered to assassinate German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, raids his headquarters. The operation results in many casualties, but Rommel is not one of them. He is recovering from nasal diphtheria in a German hospital. However, a phone call from Adolf Hitler returns him to the North African theater, where the British Eighth Army, under General Bernard Montgomery, prepare to counterattack and defeat the Axis forces at El Alamein. Rommel is ordered by Hitler to stand fast and not retreat, but Rommel considers the order foolish and a waste of both armor and infantry; as a result, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler after his pleas to evacuate his men are dismissed.

Rommel again falls ill and is returned to Germany, where he is hospitalized. An old family friend, Dr. Karl Strlin, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, visits him to request he join a group plotting to overthrow Hitler. Rommel is hesitant. After his recuperation, Rommel is transferred to Normandy, where he is placed in charge of defending the Atlantic Wall. After inspection, he realizes the "wall" offers little protection against an Allied invasion. He and his superior, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, are handicapped by Hitler's astrological belief that the real invasion will come at Calais. As a result, on D-Day, the Allies invade Normandy and secure a beachhead. For Rommel, this is the final straw; he joins the conspiracy to remove Hitler from power. Later, however, Rommel is seriously injured when his staff car is strafed by an Allied plane.

Meanwhile, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg plants a bomb where Hitler confers with his general staff at the Wolf's Lair. It explodes on cue, but the Fhrer survives. Thousands of suspects are tracked down and executed. An official silence surrounds Rommel. Soon after, General Wilhelm Burgdorf is sent by Hitler to offer Rommel a stark choice: (a) execution by garroting for committing treason, or (b) painless suicide, with the promise that his wife and son will be well looked after. Rommel chooses the latter. For the last time, he bids his wife and son goodbye and climbs into Burgdorf's car for a rendezvous with his own fate. As the film ends, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivers a speech in the House of Commons praising Rommel's military genius.

Cast



* James Mason as Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel

* Cedric Hardwicke as Dr. Karl Strlin

* Jessica Tandy as Frau Lucie Rommel

* Luther Adler as Adolf Hitler

* Everett Sloane as General Wilhelm Burgdorf

* Leo G. Carroll as Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt

* George Macready as General Fritz Bayerlein

* Richard Boone as Captain Hermann Aldinger

* Eduard Franz as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

* Desmond Young as Lt. Col. Desmond Young

* Michael Rennie Narrator

* Paul Cavanagh as Lt. Col. Caesar von Hofacker (uncredited)

Production



The film was based on a book by Desmond Young. This would go on to sell 175,000 copies in Britain.Appealing Script Wins Helen Hayes for Film

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 28 Jan 1951: D4.
Books--Authors

New York Times 26 Sep 1950: 29.


In February 1950, even before the book was published, it was announced Nunnally Johnson of Fox was leading the negotiations to obtain the film rights to the book. Johnson would write and produce and Kirk Douglas was the first star mentioned.Drama: 'Tender Hours' Speeded; Kent Taylor Aissigned; 'Bulls' Leads Chosen

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 14 Feb 1950: B5.
MEL FERRER GETS LEAD AT COLUMBIA: Studio Assigns Him to 'Brave Bulls,' With Eugene Iglesias Playing Younger Brother Seeks 'Rights' to "Rommel"

By THOMAS F. BRADY Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. New York Times 14 Feb 1950: 29.
PRODUCER AT BAY: Nunnally Johnson Scans Varied Film Matters Challenge Exception Paging Youth

By THOMAS M. PRYOR. New York Times 26 Feb 1950: X5.


Johnson eventually made the film as the first part of his new five-year contract with Fox.Second O'Malley-Malone Film Set; Five-Year Pact Seals Nunnally Johnson

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 18 Oct 1950: B7.
He normally took ten weeks to write a script but said this one took him eight months because it was so complex, and involved many people who were still alive. While writing it he says the British were generally positive (Rommel had a very high reputation in Britain) but there was some controversy in the US about a Hollywood studio making a sympathetic biopic about a German general.Johnson p 294

Johnson later said, "If Rommel hadn't been involved in the plot against Hitler, this screenplay wouldn't have been written. Circumstances allowed Rommel to be a pretty good fellow because there were no civilians involved in the North Africa campaigns. I have tried to write the script with detachment. There is no effort to solicit sympathy for him, except in the final sequence. There are the circumstances as he says goodbye to his wife and son to go to his death [which] would undoubtedly create sympathy for any man. Rommel was a very limited man intellectually. His problem was a conflict of loyalties. He followed a false god and when he found that out he risked being a traitor."HOLLYWOOD'S SHIFTING SANDS: A KU KLUX KLAN EXPOSE AND A ROMANTIC COMEDY

By THOMAS F. BRADY. New York Times 25 Feb 1951: 93.


In January 1951 Henry Hathaway, who had signed to direct, left to shoot second unit footage in Germany and North Africa. Richard Widmark was being talked about as a possible Rommel.Drama: Barry Sullivan Legal Rival of Pidgeon; Rommel March Scheduled Here

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 15 Jan 1951: A11.


In February 1951, James Mason signed to play Rommel.PROTEST IS LODGED ON HOPE G.I. SHOW: Chanute Field's Admission Fee for 'Free' Entertainment Is Decried by Film Group

By THOMAS F. BRADY New York Times 3 Feb 1951: 20.
Mason's career had been on a downward slide since he moved to the US from Britain and he had lobbied Darryl F Zanuck to play the role and was so keen to do it he agreed to sign a long term contract with Fox, to make one film a year for seven years.English Stars Thrive Happily in Unusual Marital Melange

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 6 May 1951: E1.


The movie was one of the first to use a pre-credit sequence.Johnson p. 296-306

Reception



The film was very popular in Britain, despite incidents such as when Ethel Sears got up during a screening and demanded people not watch the film.NOTED ON THE LONDON SCREEN SCENE: Film Circles View New Ministry With Gloom -- Other Matters Production Notes Fox Footnotes Speed-Up

By STEPHEN WATTS. New York Times 18 Nov 1951: X5.


Role in Rommel myth



The movie played a significant role in the Rommel myth, a view that the Field Marshal was an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of the Third Reich because of his (now-disputed) participation in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler. The myth was created with Rommel's participation as a component of Nazi propaganda to praise the Wehrmacht and instill optimism in the German public. From 1941, it was picked up and disseminated in the West by the British press, as it sought to explain its continued inability to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.

After the war, the Western Allies, and particularly the British, depicted Rommel as the "good German" and "our friend Rommel". His reputation for conducting a clean war was used for the West German rearmament as well as reconciliation between the former enemies : Britain and the United States on one side and the new Federal Republic on the other.

They portrayed Rommel sympathetically, as a loyal, humane soldier and a firm opponent of Hitler's policies. The movie plays up Rommel's disputed role in the conspiracy against Hitler but omits Rommel's early association with the dictator. Critical and public reception in the US was muted, but the movie was a success in Britain, along with a less-known 1953 movie 'The Desert Rats' in which Mason resumed his portrayal of Rommel.

The movie proved one of the suitable tools for the reconciliation among the former enemies. British popular knowledge focuses on the reconstruction of the fighting in that theatre of war, almost to the exclusion of all others. 'The Desert Fox' helped in creating an image of the German army that would be acceptable to the British public.

The film received nearly-universally positive reviews in Britain, but protests at the movie theatres broke out in Vienna and Milan. Basil Liddell Hart, who later edited Rommel's wartime writings into the 1953 book 'The Rommel Papers', watching the movie with other high-ranking British officers, reported being "pleasantly surprised".

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