Desert Fox, The (1951)

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox”, was the commander of the crack German Afrika Korps, whose brilliant tactics earned him the respect of both friends and foe. When the tide was turning at El Alamein, Rommel disobeyed Hitler’s orders and pulled his men out of battle.

Returning to Germany, he was torn between loyalty to his country and his own better judgement.

He joined the assassination plot against Hitler and was forced to take drastic measures to save his wife and son from possible danger. Rommel’s home life is expertly sketched, making his final action understandable. When the plot failed, Hitler obliged Rommel to commit suicide.

This is not only a war film but the tragedy of a man who waited too long before acting on his better instincts.

As interpreted by James Mason, Rommel is competent, self-assured, loyal and aggressive, and the movie treats him as a wonderful soldier who is, unfortunately, on the wrong side.

Because the film focuses on the last few months of Rommel’s life, it shows much more of him doubting Hitler than loyally serving him – a balance some felt was pushed too far.

When The Desert Fox came out, it was slammed in the New York Times as “a tenderised Hollywood laudation” of “the leader responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of British troops, the crafty general so righteously hated as the dragoman of Hitler”.

It has been argued by some historians in recent years that Rommel’s African war was a less honourable one than many have believed.

Many of the scenes are filmed in a quasi-documentary style by Henry Hathaway, avoiding romantic heroics and sentimentality.

Borrego Springs, California stands in brilliantly for the African desert. The staging of El Alamein and, later, D-day is astonishingly lifelike – because it is actually real life. Director Henry Hathaway simply used documentary footage showing the real thing.

Mason repeated his sensitive impersonation of Rommel again in The Desert Rats (1953).

Erwin Rommel
James Mason
Dr Karl Strolin
Cedric Hardwicke
Frau Rommel
Jessica Tandy
Hitler
Luther Adler
General Burgdorf
Everett Sloane
Field Marshal Von Rundstedt
Leo G Carroll
General Fritz Bayerlein
George Macready
Aldinger
Richard Boone
Manfred Rommel
William Reynolds
Narrator
Michael Rennie

Director
Henry Hathaway