The Desert Fox
by Henry Hathaway
List Price:
Our Price: $7.39
You Save: $7.59 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.14 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Cedric Hardwicke, Everett Sloane, James Mason, Jessica Tandy, Luther AdlerDirector: Henry Hathaway
Brand: MASON,JAMES
Writer: Desmond Young
Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine
Editor: James B. Clark
Producer: Nunnally Johnson
Writer: Nunnally Johnson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
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: James Mason as Irwin Rommel
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this movie when a teenager, a long time ago. It was the last film shown in the theater where I viewed it, which was subsequently closed, and torn down. The film was very well done, and Mason's acting, as always, was superb. This movie should appeal to all those interested in the history of WWII.DVD Review: Rommel - the good German
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie is ok, but it's not fantastic. It tries to protray Erwin Rommel in a good light, as a good German who fought for his country, but was not a Nazi. I wonder wether this movie made in the 1950's, was made as a bit of Cold War properganda, to win over the German's and to protray the German's in a good light to people in the West. I also wonder if Rommel had surivived the war, would he have gone into politic's, like Eisenhower and De Gaulle??DVD Review: A Mildly Flawed Character Study
Summary: 3 Stars
It must have taken considerable courage for Hollywood to present the war years of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel just six years after cessation of hostilities. What is of surprise is the type of war picture it was. Rather than unfold another of the wildly popular shoot-em-ups then current, director Henry Hathaway chose a more daring tack: to film a character study of an officer who was widely considered to be one of the best tank generals of all time, even if he fought for Germany. James Mason is Rommel, a man whose strong sense of duty shines clearly in every scene. Mason speaks in his normal resonant English accent, with no one speaking German. Mason's Rommel is a general staff officer who begins the war with a few reservations about the competency of Hitler. He keeps these to himself until a rapidly deteriorating and collapsing front forces him to make a choice that afflicted many others in the Wehrmacht. Should he obey the orders of his Fuhrer without question and risk the annihilation of Germany or should he act to remove Hitler in a coup. The recent film VALKYRIE has Tom Cruise as Colonel Klaus Von Stauffenberg face the same brutal choice, with both officers in each film reaching the same conclusion: namely that Hitler had to go.
Part of the problem I had with THE DESERT FOX lies in director Hathaway's desire to have it both ways--a film that is an actioner and one that explores the inner thoughts of one man at a critical juncture in a world war. The movie begins with a British raid on a chalet in Nazi-occupied Europe for the sole purpose of assassinating Rommel. There is considerable gunfire and explosions, but after that the audience views the late career of Rommel through the lens of stock footage of war scenes and vignettes that lead Rommel inexorably to conclude that the only way to salvage Germany was to arrest Hitler and the entire leadership of the Nazi party. Rommel is briefly shown as the commander of the Afrika Corps in 1942, but his appearance is limited mostly to scenes in which he grouses about the idiocy of obeying Hitler's orders to fight to the last man and the last bullet. Fast forward two years to D-Day. Mason shares some revelatory scenes with Leo G. Carroll as Field Marshal von Rundshtet as both similarly realize that the fate of their country lies in the incompetent hands of a corporal with no concept of tactics and leadership. The ending is no surprise to any student of military history. What Mason adds to factual history is his portrayal of a man who must battle his conscience with the same ferocity that he does with the Americans and English. The scenes with Jessica Tandy as his wife are deeply touching as both face a crunching reality of Hitler's vengeance that reaches out to ensnare even a decorated Field Marshal. THE DESERT FOX is a war film that focuses less on the fox and more on the common sense decency of a general who swore allegiance to one who had none at all.
DVD Review: Excellent quality
Summary: 4 Stars
Having just returned from El Alamein in northern Egypt where much of this action took place I wanted to recall this very important event and further my interest in Rommel.
A true story, but not one we American's are as familiar as the Brits, since we didn't really have a roll in actualy fighting. Good British, German and Italian history mixed in with action everyone can enjoy.
Having rented "The Desert Fox" years ago, I was not at all disappointed in my re-done purchase.
GH Cincinnati, OH
DVD Review: Rommel's home
Summary: 5 Stars
I am writing from memory here -- of the film from three months ago, and a walk from Herrlingen to the Rommel home twenty years ago.
Although the IMDB listing says the filming took place in California, the exteriors of the home match my memory of the actual house. The driveway entry's gateposts, the curve of the driveway, the the shape and stone appearance of the front of the house, even the front doorstep.
I'll have to watch again to see if Mason was actually present in those exterior shots, or did he stay in California?
The house was briefly used as a U.S. military HQ, and then became an orphanage, I remember reading, after the war.
When I walked up the hill from Herrlingen toward the Rommel driveeway on my left, the gate was shut, but then a car approached it, and a young woman opened it, just as she saw me.
She did not want to disappoint a visitor from so far away, and so delayed her errands to show me in to the house.
I stood inside in the portico, looking up the stairway to the right, and she explained that three young families, each with two children, had cooperatively purchased the home. I believe she said each family occupied one floor of the house, though I don't recall it being tall enough for three stories.
I did not intrude further, and went back outside, where she pointed out the bomb shelter (against possible Allied air attack) to the right of the driveway (the uphill side when facing the house), up against some (birch?) trees.
When she closed the gate behind us and drove away, I turned left and walked up the hill, the route Rommel took in his last moments.
The right side of the road had several newer homes, on an uphill slope, looking out over the valley and river below. This same hillside appears bare, I recall, in the film.
On the left side of the road, the side opposite the houses, there is now a bench (concrete?) with a plaque, I believe, commemorating Rommel's death there. I sat there for a few moments. I believe photos of that site are availabe to view online.
I need to see the film again to be certain, but I now recall seeing that same spot in it, without the bench, or with a cruder wooden one (?) Ah, memory!
Anyway, among the praises in your wonderful reviews here, I want to include praise for this film's conscientious effort to utilize or duplicate the actual Rommel home in Desert Fox.
The Rommel story is of course the mirror we hold up to ourselves in times of turmoil.
How would I have acted, given a career involvement in military expertise, as I realized the madness of the rulers and the insanity my country had fallen into? Would I have withdrawn my skills from such wrong uses?
All of the recent fatuous praise of U.S. soldiers who don't think for themselves, and just "do their jobs," hmmmm....
And "loyal" U.S. civilians, who've allowed the displacement of four million Iraqi refugees, among them 10,000s of young teen girls selling themselves in neighboring countries for the survival of their families, without an "American" finger lifted to help them.
Where is the shame now among us that the German people were expected to learn and display when confronted with the ovens up the road?
In this Republic, especially, the "job" of Citizen comes first, and we have been slow, slow, slow to do it.
The Rommels present the many-layered story of sane people trying to exist in insane times, much like the parallel sad story of Robert E. Lee.
We have even more apt lifetime examples generalship, such as Eisenhower, eager to teach the rest of us to keep War as the last resort, not the first.
We gather here to learn from history, and its significant characters, so as not to repeat or perpetuate their misery.
The final coda of Manfred's long and successful career as Stuttgart's mayor indicates that these were, indeed, normal, honorable people that any of us could aspire to equal, and yet, sadly, living in a time of such evil, they could neither prevent much of the evil, nor keep it from marking their own family with its touch.
The death mask of Rommel, the photo of which I recall seeing in The Rommel Papers, casts upon us a final look of contempt which speaks many volumes.
Without going into the complex layers of bitter disappointment that might have produced such a look, I might add that I hope this soul has since found peace in understanding how an immature humanity could fail to live up to the high principles he held, and arrived at forgiveness for himself in not penetrating the fog of life's accumulated experience enough to see what he was really up against, and to escape it with his family in time.
Description of The Desert Fox
James Mason delivers a strong performance in this fascinating portrait of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In the early 1940's, Rommel's juggernaut Afrika Korps dominated North Africa. But as the tide turned and he came to the painful realization that his Fuhrer, to whom he hd sworn allegiance, was destroying Germany, his ingrained sense of duty pushed him into a conspiracy against Hitler. Co-starring Jessica Tandy as Rommel's wife and Cedric Hardwicke as another anti-Hitler conspirator, The Desert Fox is an intimate look at one of the most respected military tacticians of modern times.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 F?hrer, 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
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Full-Screen Edition)Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
![Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Quantum-of-Solace-Blu-ray-B001PPLIFU-X.jpg)
Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray]MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX); Release date: 2009-03-24; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Lost: The Complete Fifth SeasonRelease date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $36.99
Price in other shops:
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Single-Disc Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-10-20; DVD
Best price: $12.25
Price in other shops:
Terminator Salvation (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-01; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
![G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Image](/images/G-I-Joe-The-Rise-of-Cobra-Two-Disc-Edition-Digital-Copy-Blu-ray-B002NXSRX4-X.jpg)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $18.90
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Two-Disc Limited Special Edition + Digital Copy)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
![Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy & BD-Live) [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Harry-Potter-and-the-Half-Blood-Prince-Blu-ray-DVD-Combo-Digital-Copy-BD-Live-Blu-ray-B000ZELISO-X.jpg)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Blu-ray/ DVD Combo + Digital Copy & BD-Live) [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Star Trek (Single-Disc Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Battle of BritainCAINE,MICHAEL; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops:
Run Silent, Run DeepGABLE/LANCASTER; Release date: 1999-05-18; DVD
Best price: $6.05
Price in other shops:
MacArthurUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2001-10-30; DVD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
The Devil's BrigadeHOLDEN,WILLIAM; Release date: 2002-05-07; DVD
Best price: $7.30
Price in other shops:
Battle of the BulgeWarner Brothers; Release date: 2005-05-03; DVD
Best price: $4.88
Price in other shops:
The Blue MaxPEPPARD,GEORGE; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
AnzioMITCHUM,ROBERT; Release date: 2001-11-06; DVD
Best price: $5.20
Price in other shops:
The Bridge at RemagenSEGAL,GEORGE; Release date: 2000-02-29; DVD
Best price: $6.23
Price in other shops:
Sink the Bismarck!MORE,KENNETH; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
The Desert RatsRelease date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $8.03
Price in other shops: