Mum's Monday: The Desert Fox

It turns out Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) is ‘The Desert Fox’. The desert is in North Africa. The narration in this film is well done, as the film is a look back of one man’s experience during World War two and the truth about Rommel’s death.

There are a lot of battle scenes in this film interweaved between scripted and narration parts. This film literally is telling a story.

It is good to see that not everyone agreed with Hitler, this film however does question who was the brains behind the orders, Hitler or his men that surrounded him in Berlin.

I can see why Rommel was not liked by some people. He was very out-spoken, putting himself and his family sadly, at risk.

Rommel’s son Manfred (William Reynolds) as portrayed in this film, although well dressed in a suit, neat haircut and stylish glasses, comes across as childlike. It is not clear of his age at the time.

It seems strange now that it comes to light that Rommel is Hitler’s favourite. It just goes to show; no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors or in people’s minds. Rommel won’t tell Hitler what he really thinks, or will he?

There are some big sweeping scenes covering D-Day. There is no script, but there doesn’t need to be. ‘The war can’t be won on tactics’. That is the exact opposite of what is required. If the German army listened and were more tactical, then could Germany have won the war. ‘Victory or Death’ is in this film not the answer.

It is sad to see Hitler (Luther Adler) not take any notice of Rommel. Yes, Germany might have won the war and in the interests of history and on the side of the British army, it is good that Hitler didn’t listen to Rommel, but Rommel is still a human being with feelings and a family.

It is sad to see and now hear Rommel in injured after his accident.

There are other films that have been made interweaved into this film including ‘The longest day’ about D-Day and Valkyrie covering the Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg attempted assignation of Hitler.

It is nice to see Rommel out of uniform and in civilian clothes, while he is recovering from his accident. It is sad to see Rommel has now been charged with ‘Treason’ and the penalty is death. With his inevitable death looming it is good to see Rommel put his family first even if it meaning there is no court case.

I believe we now have gotten to the truth about Rommel’s death. I would have called this film by a different name, as although he was also known as ‘The Desert Fox’ the desert part was such a small part of the film at the start.