The Desert Fox – 1951 | 90 mins | War, Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

A surprisingly sympathetic biopic of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Montgomery’s nemesis in North Africa during the second world war. James Mason plays him more wise than wily, and definitely a hero; and the battle scenes – including real-life war footage – are impressive.

The film follows Rommel’s desert campaign during the early 1940s when the Afrika Korps dominated North Africa, but the tide turned against Germany at El Alamein, where British soldiers under Montgomery launched an attack that devastated the German army. Rommel refused to comply with Hitler’s demand to fight to the last man and ordered a retreat instead, also suffering from an illness he returns to Berlin for hospital treatment. While recovering, Rommel is visited by Dr. Karl Strolin (Cedric Hardwicke), an anti-Hitler conspirator planning to assassinate the Fuhrer to save Germany from utter destruction. Strolin tries to enlist Rommel’s assistance but is rebuffed. Later, Strolin again visits Rommel this time at his home, the Desert Fox does not dismiss Strolin out of hand, and after discovering of Hitler’s (Luther Adler) plan to take personal control of the armed forces agrees to join the conspirators.

Meanwhile, co-conspirator Col. Von Stauffenberg (Eduard Franz) plants a bomb at Hitler’s bunker headquarters but the plot fails to kill the dictator. The conspirators are rounded up and executed. Gen. Burgdorf (Everett Sloane) visits Rommel and tells him that his involvement in the plot to kill Hitler is known, and if he demands a public trial his family’s safety could not be assured. As an alternative, Rommel is offered the opportunity for a noble suicide with poison and that his name will go untarnished. Rommel dresses, as if for battle, and leaves with Hitler’s emissaries, going to his death, as his wife (Jessica Tandy) and son Manfred (William Reynolds) watch the car drive away.