What an interesting film to watch and consider. I must admit I find it hard to credit Hollywood producing a film celebrating Hitler's greatest general a mere 6 years after the end of the war, even if the Hitler assassination plot had become widely known about in the interim. It was down to Rommell after all that a lot of Allied soldiers lost their lives but then I guess that is the controversial "Rommell Effect" in action, where a halo of greatness and decency appears to have been attached to Germany's top general. Interesting too to read that Warner Brothers, of Jewish heritage of course, refused to show the film in any of their theatres at the time. Perhaps it was made as a sop to foster good relations with post war West Germany especially as the Iron Curtain was descending over Europe and Berlin in particular at that time.
Putting all that aside it's certainly a well made film and boasts a superb performance by James Mason in the title role. He plays the part of Rommell with great confidence and pretty much carries the film on his own shoulders.
Elsewhere the editing of the film is both good and bad. There's a tense and exciting pre-title sequence as a group of British commandos attempt to assassinate Rommell, this many years before the James Bond franchise, to name but one, took it up as a trademark introduction to most of their films. However, the editing in of stock Second World War footage doesn't work very well and there are also some very obvious process shots of characters standing in front of painted backdrops.
The film certainly does its job of humanising the great general, crediting him with being one of the anti-Hitler sympathisers, although it's at least at pains to suggest he was far from being the most outspoken or active of the conspirators. Elsewhere he's shown to be an honourable soldier, loving family man and ultimately a brave man accepting suicide when forced to do so by Hitler's underlings. Although it's held back, we do also get to see Rommell meeting Hitler and even a dramatisation of the failed attempt on the Fuhrer's life.
Like I said at the start, I watched this film with mixed feelings, perhaps thinking it wasn't Hollywood's place to make such a film. What I'll remember most is Mason's excellent acting above all else, which I believe, is probably for the best.
Putting all that aside it's certainly a well made film and boasts a superb performance by James Mason in the title role. He plays the part of Rommell with great confidence and pretty much carries the film on his own shoulders.
Elsewhere the editing of the film is both good and bad. There's a tense and exciting pre-title sequence as a group of British commandos attempt to assassinate Rommell, this many years before the James Bond franchise, to name but one, took it up as a trademark introduction to most of their films. However, the editing in of stock Second World War footage doesn't work very well and there are also some very obvious process shots of characters standing in front of painted backdrops.
The film certainly does its job of humanising the great general, crediting him with being one of the anti-Hitler sympathisers, although it's at least at pains to suggest he was far from being the most outspoken or active of the conspirators. Elsewhere he's shown to be an honourable soldier, loving family man and ultimately a brave man accepting suicide when forced to do so by Hitler's underlings. Although it's held back, we do also get to see Rommell meeting Hitler and even a dramatisation of the failed attempt on the Fuhrer's life.
Like I said at the start, I watched this film with mixed feelings, perhaps thinking it wasn't Hollywood's place to make such a film. What I'll remember most is Mason's excellent acting above all else, which I believe, is probably for the best.