The Desert Fox

The Desert Fox is a superb filmed biography of German general Erwin Rommel, concentrating on the period between his retreat from North Africa and his government-decreed death. A brilliant tactician, Rommel earns the respect not only of his own men but of the enemy. Unfortunately, Adolph Hitler ...more

This 1951 production was among the first post-World War II motion pictures to portray a German officer sympathetically -- in this case, Erwin Rommel, dubbed "the Desert Fox" for his wily tactics as a tank commander in the sands of North Africa. To fashion its portrait of him, the film uses a variety of devices: narration that presents him, dialogue that praises him, archival battle scenes that attest to his military genius, and staged episodes that demonstrate his mystique as a seemingly ...more