Best movie of this year hands down!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A good docudrama of Edwin Rommel's military career during WWII, from his role as the 'Desert Fox', to his responsibility for beefing up the Atlantic coastal defenses against the expected large invasion force from the UK, then detailing his thoughts about deposing Hitler by some means, after the successful Allied penetration into France. His probable peripheral involvement in the Stauffenberg bomb plot, and the subsequent fatal consequences are emphasized....... James Mason makes an excellent largely expressionless Rommel, while Luther makes an excellent ranting Hitler. Leo Carroll makes a perceptive Marshall Von Runstedt, while Edward Franz plays the briefcase bomber: Col. Stauffenberg. Desmond Young gives an introduction and occasional narration.......With the given title, seems like the screenplay should have placed some emphasis on the doings of the Afrika Corp before the 2nd battle of Al Alamein. Several highlights from this period are briefly incongruously acknowledged in the finale. Thus, the beginning mostly talks about the abandonment of the Afrika Corp by Hitler, and his demand that they sacrifice themselves to the last man, instead of being withdrawn to fight another day, or surrendering. Occasional stock footage of actual battlefield film are inserted here and later. The subsequent film of two years later: "Desert Rats", deals exclusively with the tank warfare in North Africa: the British units being dubbed "Desert Rats", to Rommel's "Desert Fox". That film is generally regarded as inferior to the present film. Time permitting, the film might have begun with a brief dramatization of Rommel's previous role in the conquest of France and the Low Countries, as a primer for his subsequent tactics in the desert......The discussion between Rommel and Von Runstedt highlights the inadequacies of the Atlantic defenses against a major invasion force, and the frustration in getting supplies and personnel to strengthen it. Rommel and Hitler were both undecided where the invasion would take place, sometimes imagining that there would be a preliminary invasion at Normandy, followed by a major invasion at Calais. Rommel seems to have generally supported Hitler, even in his most inadvisable directives, aside from his decision to desert the Afrika Corp to their own fate. Rommel was concerned that a successful removal of Hitler from power might unleash a civil war within Germany. However, there is some evidence that he knew of and supported the infamous assassination plot, and hence deserved his charge of treason, and death sentence. He might even have been the frontrunner as a replacement for Hitler. Hitler was smart in his handling of the situation, reporting that Rommel died of his wounds from a strafing by a British fighter, rather than from an enforced suicide. The assassination attempt is well dramatized. See it at YouTube.

(Flash Review)I popped this film on as Rommel is one of the few names I actually know from WWII and a non-American at that. It is the war from Rommel's perspective and talks about how great a tactician he was and how he'd follow the rules of war to the letter. I never really knew he had a part in the assassination attempt on Hitler. A scene more famously known from the movie Vallkarie with Tom Cruise. The film made you feel for him and how his end….was forced. Heavy. Moderately interesting if the topic peeks your interest. It also conveniently tap dances around the Holocaust. Too soon maybe in the early 50's….?

THE DESERT FOX is a sympathetic biopic of Rommel, one of the great Nazi generals, who led his troops to victory in North Africa before becoming embroiled in one of the most notorious conspiracies of the Second World War. What's apparent from the outset is just how well made this movie is: it's an exemplary piece of story-telling, crisply shot, fast-paced, and with real heart behind it.Much of the film's success is down to James Mason in the titular role. Mason was always a consummate professional and no more so than here; his portrayal of a conflicted figure is an entirely sympathetic one and it's hard to imagine another actor doing so well in the role. The supporting cast is fine, too, but it's Henry Hathaway's direction which really shines. He brings a freshness and vitality even to those moments which are well-known to history, and his film is utterly compelling as a result. Great stuff indeed.

This is a pretty solid attempt to portray a soldier's great dilemma - balancing loyalty to the state and obedience to orders with the higher calling of loyalty to what's right and just. Erwin Rommel was one of the great German generals of World War II (a hero in Germany and respected by the Allies.) In the end, he also became involved with the conspiracy against Hitler. The movie shows us some of that development, beginning with his incredulousness at Hitler's orders that the Afrika Korps stand and fight to the last man in Africa rather than withdrawing to fight another day. According to the movie, it was this "stand and fight to the last man" attitude of Der Fuhrer that finally pushed Rommel over the edge. That makes Rommel consistent with what I know of most of the leaders of the "resistance" (such as it was) to Hitler. The opposition wasn't political; it wasn't based on a rejection of Nazi ideology or distaste for Hitler's racial policies - it tended to be based simply on the belief that Hitler was leading Germany to defeat in the war. That's the overarching sentiment portrayed here. That being the case, Rommel may not have been the sympathetic character this movie makes him out to be - maybe he just had the smarts to realize that Germany was fighting a losing war. There's also no mention of his performance during the German invasion of France in 1940, in which Rommel - as a panzer commander - received some German criticism for both his tactics and his tendency to exaggerate his achievements.James Mason was very good as Rommel. His portrayal was believable, although I wish there had been more exploration in the story of where Rommel came from rather than simply starting us abruptly in Africa. Made only 6 years after the end of the war, the movie is also somewhat courageous in presenting a German general (even one who was unsympathetic to Hitler) in such a sympathetic light. I didn't find this to be structured particularly well. There was too much narration involved, which seemed put an end to any flow the movie might have been trying to develop. Some scenes (particularly of the Allied landings on D-Day) featured a little too much patriotic American and British and French music as the troops went ashore (frankly, listening to the Marine Fight Song or The Marseillaise in a movie about Rommel seemed a bit silly.)It's an interesting movie, but doesn't seem to completely capture the man it portrays.