The Desert Fox
by Henry Hathaway
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DVD details
Actor: Cedric Hardwicke, Everett Sloane, James Mason, Jessica Tandy, Luther AdlerDirector: Henry Hathaway
Brand: Fox Home Entertainment
Writer: Desmond Young
Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine
Editor: James B. Clark
Producer: Nunnally Johnson
Writer: Nunnally Johnson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Desert Fox
DVD Review: Good bio flick
Summary: 4 Stars
Field Marshall Erwin Rommell has been portrayed in dozens of films, but never better than in the 1951 film starring James Mason. The wonderful supporting cast features Cedric Hardwicke, Leo G. Carrol, Eduard Franz, Everett Sloan, George Macready, Richard Boone, and Jessica Tandy as Rommel's wife and Luther Adler as Hitler.
James Mason appeared in more than films. He was nominated for an Oscar 3 times ("A Star is Born", "Georgy Girl", "The Verdict") and won a Golden Globe for "A Star is Born" (1954). He is perhaps best known for his role in Stanley Kubrik's "Lolita" (1962) for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. Other memorable roles include Brutus in "Julius Caesar" (1953) and Captain Nemo in "20,000 leagues Under the Sea" (1954). Mason identified himself as a "fairly desirable sort of character actor" and claimed that the "public never knows what it's getting by way of a Mason performance" - true to a point, except audiences knew they would always get a great performance, which is what he gives in this film.
Other actors who played Rommel include Erich von Stroheim ("Five Graves to Cairo", 1943), Werner Hinz ("The Longest Day", 1962), Christopher Plummer ("Night of the Generals", 1966), Wolfgang Preiss ("Raid on Rommel", 1971), Karl Michael Vogler ("Patton"), and Helmut Griem (The Plot to Kill Hitler", 1990). James Mason played him again in "The Desert Rats" (1953) with Richard Burton (FWIW - Burton starred years later in "Raid on Rommel" (1971) directed by Henry Hathaway who directed "The Desert Fox")
Cedric Hardwicke plays an old friend of Rommel who tries to persuade him to join the plot against Hitler (played by Luther Adler). Sir Cedric's strong voice and stony appearance graced nearly 100 films. He played the evil bishop in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), Dr. Livingstone in "Stanley and Livingstone" (1939), and King Arthur in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1949). I remember him best as the Pharaoh in "The Ten Commandments" (1956).
Eduard Franz is another conspirator, although he is on screen only for a minute or so. Franz appeared in more than 50 films and made a successful transition to TV in the 50s. He had recurring roles as Gregorio in "Zorro" (1958) and as the Psychiatrist Dr. Raymer in "Breaking Point" (1963-4). Franz was extremely versatile and could play an Indian ("White Feather"), a Mexican ("Zorro"), a German ("Desert Fox"), etc. I remember him best as Dr. Stern in "The Thing" (1951).
Luther Adler (a Jew) plays Hitler. Adler was a director as well as an actor on Broadway, and his sister Stella was well known as an acting coach and with her and Lee Strasberg they formed the Group Theatre Acting Company where people like Elia Kazan, John Garfield, Lee J Cobb, Franchot Tone, and others started. In fact, one of the first jobs Marlon Brando ever got was in a play directed by Luther called "A Flag is Born" (1946). Adler made only a few dozen films as he was busy in his other endeavors. He had memorable roles in "DOA" (1950), "The Last Angry Man" (1959), and "Absence of Malice" (1981).
Adler's portrayal of Hitler is OK. Dozens of actors have played Hitler - Charlie Chaplin, Alec Guiness, Bruno Ganz, Ian McKellan, Anthony Hopkins, Ludwig Haas, Michael Sheard, Noah Taylor, etc. Bobby Watson played him nearly a dozen times. My favorite is Bruno Ganz in "Downfall" (2004).
Everett Sloane appeared in more than 100 films and TV programs and was part of the Orson Welles stock company. In fact his film debut was in "Citizen Kane" (1941) as Mr. Bernstein and he appeared in several Welles films like "Journey into Fear" (1943) and "Lady from Shanghai" (1948). He transitioned to TV in the early 50s. Sloane has a small part as a German General who offers Rommel the choice of suicide or death.
Jessica Tandy plays Rommel's wife. Tandy was a marvelous actress who appeared in a mere 50 films but earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe ("Driving Miss Daisy", 1989), 2 Tonys ("Streetcar Named Desire", 1947, "The Gin Games", 1978) and an Emmy "Foxfire", 1987) as well as numerous nominations for films such as "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991) and "Cocoon" (1985). She has one of the longest careers on record, having started in 1932 ("The Indiscretions of Eve") and worked continuously through 1994 ("Camilla"). She claimed to be "most comfortable on the stage".
Richard Boone appears throughout the film as an aide to Rommel, but he almost never speaks. Boone was a terrific actor, perhaps best known for his TV western series "Have Gun Will Travel" (1957 - 1963), but he was a busy actor and appeared in nearly 50 films, 3 of them with Wayne ("The Alamo" i1960, "The Shootist" in 1976, "Big Jake" in 1971). Boone was a graduate of the Actor's Studio.
George Macready appears briefly in the beginning. He was an excellent character actor, appeared in nearly 100 films and was active on TV. He was often cast as an aristocratic villain because of his cultured accent, and the scar on his face was often used to this advantage. He had memorable roles in "Gilda" (1946), "Tora, Tora, Tora" (1970), and "Seven Days in May" (1964), but my personal favorite was his role as French General Mireau in "Paths of Glory" (1957)
Henry Hathaway directs this film and also directed "Raid on Rommel" (1971). Hathaway is best known for his westerns, for which he won 3 Western Heritage Awards - "How the West Was Won" (1962), "The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965), and "True Grit" (1969). He was nominated for an Oscar for "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (1935). Hathaway worked in a number of genres, and his memorable films include "The House of 92nd Street" (1945), "13 Rue Madeline" (1947), "Call Northside 777" (1948), and "Niagara" (1953) Hathaway claimed "To be a good director you've got to be a bastard. I'm a bastard and I know it." Indeed, Mason commented in his autobiography that Hathaway had been difficult to work with.
The film is written and produced by Nunnaly Johnson. Johnson was a creative genius. He was twice nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay ("The Grapes of Wrath" and "Holy Matrimony") and DGA and Cannes nominated for "Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" (1956). His other memorable works include "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953), "The Woman in the Window" (1944), "Tobacco Road" (1941), and "Jesse James" (1939).
Coming so close to the end of WW 2, the film was criticized as being too gentle on the Germans. Bosley Crowther said the film had "a strange disregard for the principles and the sensibilities of those who suffered and bled in the cause of defeating German aggression." On the other hand, the coming Cold War meant that Germany and the US would combine against the Russians, so a film about a "good German" was politically correct, even if a little early. Notwithstanding this, the film tends to ignore Rommel's early career in which he was an ardent Nazi.
Another criticism of the film is that it uses stock footage from other films, and most of the action with Rommel is behind the scenes rather than on the battlefield, where he was a legend.
When viewed as a character study, this is a great film with a wonderful supporting cast, although they are not used to their full advantage. It's not really a war film, and action fans will be disappointed.
Description of The Desert Fox
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: NR
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 88 minutes
What a difference a few years can make. The Desert Fox, released six years after the end of World War II, is a solemnly respectful tribute to Erwin Rommel, Germany's most celebrated military genius. James Mason's portrayal of this gallant warrior became a highlight of his career iconography. The film itself is oddly disjointed: a precredit commando raid to liquidate Rommel is followed by a flashback to the field-marshal's lightning successes commanding the Afrika Korps?-a compressed account via documentary footage and copious narration (spoken by Michael Rennie, who also dubs Desmond Young, the Rommel biographer and onetime British POW appearing briefly as himself). The dramatic core is Rommel's growing disenchantment with Hitler (Luther Adler), his involvement in the plot to assassinate der Führer, and his subsequent martyrdom. Mason's Rommel returned two years later for a flamboyant, mostly German-speaking cameo in The Desert Rats, a prequel focusing on the battle for Tobruk. --Richard T. Jameson
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