A nice south african actor image I found:
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The Fiction.
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The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel is a 1951 biographical film about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of World War II. It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book Rommel by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the Indian Army in North Africa.
Contents.
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links
Plot. 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 civilization, 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 movie 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.
Rommel is approached while in hospital by an old family friend, Dr. Karl Strölin (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), with a request that he join a group plotting to overthrow Hitler. Rommel is very hesitant. Dr. Strölin departs, and immediately afterward evades a Gestapo agent assigned to watch him.
Rommel is placed in charge of defending the Atlantic Wall against the anticipated Allied invasion, though he knows the "wall" offers little protection against invasion. When the Allies land in France on 6 June, 1944, he and his superior, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (Leo G. Carroll), are handicapped by Hitler’s astrological belief that it is a diversion, with the real invasion to come at the Strait of Dover. As a result, they are denied urgently needed reinforcements, allowing the Allies to secure a beachhead. This is the final straw. Rommel joins the conspiracy. However, when he tries to recruit von Rundstedt, the latter excuses himself by stating he is too old for such things, but wishes Rommel well, saying that he will succeed him by morning. (We later hear that Rommel was not appointed his successor.)
Plans are set in motion to remove Hitler. Rommel finally insists on meeting Hitler personally in an effort to persuade him to see reason. Hitler does not heed Rommel’s gloomy predictions about the war, screaming that wonder weapons in development will turn the tide. Shortly afterward, Rommel is seriously injured when his car is strafed by an Allied aeroplane. Thus, he is recovering in a hospital when, on 20 July, 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Eduard Franz) plants a bomb in Hitler’s conference room. It goes off, but the Führer survives. Thousands of suspects are tracked down and executed. An official silence surrounds Rommel.
General Wilhelm Burgdorf (Everett Sloane) is sent by Hitler to present Rommel with a stark choice: be charged with treason, for which the penalty will be excruciating death by garroting, or commit painless suicide. It would be announced that he had died of his previous injuries, he would receive a hero’s burial, and Hitler’s regime would avoid embarrassment. Rommel initially chooses to defend himself in the People’s Court, but when Burgdorf hints that his family would suffer from his decision, chooses suicide to protect his wife and son. He has the option of receiving a painless drug Burgdorf has brought, and he must do so before evening. He takes leave of his wife, aide-de-camp (Richard Boone) and son (who suspects nothing wrong), and departs with Burgdorf. As the car is driven away, the film ends with (voice of Michael Rennie) Desmond Young’s speculation about Rommel’s last thoughts, with brief visual flash-backs of his earlier victories in the Western Desert Campaign from Tobruk through El Alamein, and a final action close-up of Rommel standing in the gun turret of his tank as head of his panzer forces in Africa, with a voice-over tribute uttered in a 1942 speech before Parliament by "his bitterest enemy" Winston Churchill, praising the famed Desert Fox.
Cast. James Mason as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Jessica Tandy as Frau Lucie Rommel, Rommel’s wife
William Reynolds as Manfred Rommel
Cedric Hardwicke as Dr. Karl Strölin
Luther Adler as Adolf Hitler
Everett Sloane as General Wilhelm Burgdorf
Leo G. Carroll as Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt
George Macready as General Fritz Bayerlein, Rommel’s Afrika Korps subordinate
Richard Boone as Captain Hermann Aldinger
Eduard Franz as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg
Don De Leo as Maj. Gen. Ernst Maisel
John Hoyt as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (uncredited)
The Desert Rats is a 1953 American war film about the World War II siege of Tobruk. It stars Richard Burton and was directed by Robert Wise.
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 History
4 Production
5 Inaccuracies
6 Reception
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Plot. In mid-April 1941, during World War II, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) and his Afrika Korps have driven the British Army into headlong retreat across North Africa toward Egypt and the vital Suez Canal. Standing in Rommel’s way is Tobruk, a constant threat to his supply lines. The 9th Australian Division are asked to hold the port for two months, at which time they are to be relieved.
The defending Allied general (Robert Douglas) chooses English Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts (Richard Burton), an experienced field officer, to take command of a company of newly-arrived, green Australian troops. The no-nonsense MacRoberts is disliked by the undisciplined Australians. He is surprised to see in their ranks his former schoolmaster, Tom Bartlett (Robert Newton). Barlett, an alcoholic, later explains that after being dismissed from his job in England due to his drinking, he went to Australia and joined the army while intoxicated. MacRoberts offers to transfer him to a safer billet, but Bartlett turns him down.
Because of the desperate situation, the inexperienced troops are sent directly into the front line. The men dig foxholes and prepare for Rommel’s certain attack. The Allied general masses his artillery where he guesses the Germans will strike. His gamble pays off. Under cover of a sandstorm, they attack exactly where the general predicted and head directly at MacRoberts’ men. In the fierce battle, Captain Currie is wounded. Lieutenant Harry Carstairs (Charles Tingwell) abandons his vital post to go to his aid, in vain. After the Germans are beaten back, an infuriated MacRoberts vows to have Carstairs court-martialed for disobeying orders and leaving a dangerous hole in the line, but Bartlett persuades MacRoberts to retract his request.
MacRoberts receives a field promotion to major, then a temporary one to lieutenant colonel after the general elevates him to command of his battalion of Australians. The general then decides to erode the besiegers’ confidence by sending out small commando raids every night. MacRoberts’ patrols do their part in exacting a toll on the enemy.
One day, the general worries about reports of German heavy artillery being moved up, indicating an attack is imminent. The suspected location of the artillery’s ammunition dump is too far away to be attacked by the usual nighttime raid, so MacRoberts proposes using trucks abandoned by the Italians to drive there in disguise and blow it up. MacRoberts leads 54 picked men in three trucks. The attack is a success, but Carstairs is killed and MacRoberts is wounded and captured. While he is being attended to, he meets Rommel, who has been shot by a strafing Spitfire. Although he is respectful to the field marshal, MacRoberts defiantly points out that Tobruk is a thorn in his side. Rommel is bemused by his brashness and orders that he be treated well.
Later, as the prisoners are being transported, their trucks are attacked by British fighter aircraft. In the confusion, MacRoberts and Sergeant "Blue" Smith (Chips Rafferty) get away. After an exhausting walk through the desert, they reach friendly lines. The Australians have now held on for eight months.
In November, the general tells his officers that a relief column led by General Claude Auchinleck is headed for Tobruk. However, they need to take control of a key hill that overlooks the road that Auchinleck must use. The general asks MacRoberts to take his best company and hold the position for three days. On the morning of the ninth day, fearing that the men can take no more, MacRoberts orders a retreat, though Bartlett begs him to ask the men to hang on. To MacRoberts’ surprise, the men refuse to leave. Bartlett overcomes his self-professed cowardice by manning the forward observation post, where survival is measured in hours. Just after the Germans bombard the hill, the Australians hear bagpipes announcing the arrival of Auchinleck’s troops. After a hard-fought 242 days, the Allies have relieved Tobruk.
Cast.
Richard Burton as Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts
James Mason as Field Marshal Erwin von Romme
Robert Newton as Tom Bartlett
Robert Douglas as General
Torin Thatcher as Colonel Barney White
Chips Rafferty as Sergeant "Blue" Smith
Charles "Bud" Tingwell as Lieutenant Harry Carstairs (as Charles Tingwell)
Charles Davis as Pete
Ben Wright as Mick
History. The film is based on the Australian 9th Division, who were charged with the defence of Tobruk under the command of General Leslie Morshead. Hoping to survive against overwhelming odds for two months, the garrison held off the best of Rommel’s Afrika Korps for over eight months. Morshead was a distinguished Australian citizen-soldier, but is depicted in the film as the anonymous "General" and played by English actor Robert Douglas.
Production. The film was a quasi-sequel to The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951), partly made to portray a less likeable General Rommel, after criticism that movie had been too friendly to the Germans. Rommel is again played by James Mason only this time he uses a heavy German accent and is not sympathetic. The title of the film was selected to refer to the earlier movie, even though it was historically inaccurate. Mason wore Rommel’s real scarf in the film, which had been given to him by the general’s widow.
Michael Rennie was originally announced to play to male lead apposite Robert Newton, but eventually the role was taken by Richard Burton.
The script was written by an American, Richard Murphy, who was familiar with Australian servicemen from his time being a liaison officer with the Ninth Division in New Guinea, after its withdrawal from the Middle East in 1942. Several genuine Australian actors were cast, including Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell, Michael Pate and John O’Malley. Tingwell and Rafferty were flown to Hollywood from Australia.
Australian journalist Alan Moorehead was used as a consultant and the technical adviser was an Englishman now in the Canadian Army, Lieutenant George Aclund, who took part in the defence of Tobruk.
The battle sequences were shot near Borrego Springs, a Californian desert town. Some background scenes were taken from the documentary Desert Victory (1943).
Inaccuracies. The title of the film is a misnomer. The "Desert Rats" were actually the British 7th Armoured Division, the name coming from their jerboa shoulder flash. The Australian 9th Division besieged at Tobruk were denigrated as being "caught like rats in a trap" by German propaganda, the Australians calling themselves "The Rats of Tobruk" with pride as a result. The most flagrant error in this film is the rank of Rommel in 1941. The film presented him as a "field-marshall", when he was actually holding the rank of lieutenant-general. Rommel will become a fieldmarshall only in June 1942 after the fall of Tobruk.
A German panzer attack shows a short clip of an Allied M3 Grant tank as a participant in the attack. Later, An Allied armored attack includes Crusader tanks, then, again erroneously, a Churchill tank, which first saw action a year later in the ill-fated Dieppe Raid. The Churchill’s first combat use in North Africa was at Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. German infantry are often seen carrying British and American weapons, including Thompson sub-machine guns.
The Australian troops wear Canadian Army uniforms and South African hats.
Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell had both served in the army and said they tried to correct inaccuracies in the script, but only been partly successful. "The script was full of Cockney idiom," said Rafferty. "I was invited to look over it a week before shooting began, and managed to get some of it changed into Australian slang.
A key plot point involved the Australian general deliberately letting German tanks through defences. "To my knowledge there was no such plan to let the Germans in through the outer defences," said Tingwell. "But whenever difficulties of that sort were mentioned the Hollywood experts claimed to be working on a script based on the actual battle plans of the campaign.
"There’s one scene in which the sergeant – myself – refuses to obey the colonel’s order, while two lieutenants stand idly by," added Rafferty. "That will raise some Ninth Division eyebrows.
Other criticisms made of the film include:
No British officer was ever placed in command of an Australian battalion in Tobruk;
there was no raid on the ammunition dump as depicted;
there is no depiction of the British, Polish or Indian troops who were there.
Prior to the film being screened, Chips Rafferty admitted it was likely the film would be criticised by ex-servicemen. "To tell the truth, I think there’s going to be a bit of a howl," he said.
This prediction proved to be correct. Lt-General Sir Leslie Morshead said that, "The story is wholly foreign to the Tobruk I knew, and to its force which comprised almost as many gallant, purposeful British troops as those of the Ninth Division, all of whom I had the honour to command.
Reception[edit]The movie received generally good reviews from British critics, although they complained the British contribution to the campaign had been minimised. Australian critics were also positive despite the historical inaccuracies.
The film was banned in Egypt.
During production, 20th Century Fox offered Charles Tingwell a seven-year contract but he turned it down because he wanted to keep working in Australia.
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