The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
| The Desert Fox | |
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DVD Cover
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| Directed by | Henry Hathaway |
| Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Written by | Nunnally Johnson Desmond Young (book) |
| Starring |
James Mason Cedric Hardwicke Jessica Tandy |
| Narrated by | Michael Rennie |
| Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.4 million (US rentals) |
The Desert Fox is a 1951 black-and-white biographical film from 20th Century Fox about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of the 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, a view that Rommel was an apolitical, brilliant commander, opposed Nazi policies and was a victim of the Third Reich due to his (now disputed) participation in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler.
The film begins with a pre-credit sequence depicting Operation Flipper, a British commando raid whose aim is to assassinate Rommel. It fails.
After the credits, the story is introduced by narrator Michael Rennie, who dubs the voice of then Lieutenant-Colonel Desmond Young, who plays himself in the film. Young is captured and meets Rommel briefly as a prisoner of war; he states that Rommel was not only his enemy at the time, but an enemy of civilisation, and makes it his mission after the war to discover what really happened to Rommel during the final years of his life — at the time that Young wrote his book, it was believed that Rommel had died as a result of the wounds he had suffered when an Allied fighter strafed his staff car.
The film flashbacks to the period of 1941-42, as the British prepare to counterattack Egypt, directed by General Bernard Montgomery: The Germans are defeated at El Alamein in 1942. The situation is made worse when Rommel is ordered by Adolf Hitler (Luther Adler) to stand fast and not retreat, even in the face of overwhelming Allied superiority in men and supplies, but the retreat is allowed. Rommel becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler after his pleas to evacuate his men are dismissed. An ailing Rommel is sent back to Germany to recuperate while his beloved Afrika Korps is driven back across North Africa and destroyed.
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Wikipedia