The Night of the Generals Reviews

Well acted but overlong drama.

Just superb, with Peter O'Toole (a redundant name if ever there was one, but I digress) playing a deliciously convincing psychopathic creep. Not a bad adaptation of the book by the same name by one of my favorite WWII novelists, Hans Hellmut Kirst.

Unlike the hint that it's a zombie movie about undead generals, this totally awesome murdery-mystery/WW2 military plotting piece is a unique and fascinating story. The idea of weaving a murder mystery into the July 20th plot to murder Hitler is interesting on its own, but the overall execution of the story is fantastic. You have Peter O'Toole being scary as hell as one of the possible suspects in the murder case, Omar Sharif as the investigating German officer looking into the murder, then Donald Pleasance and Charles Gray as two other suspects who may also be up to something far grander than the murder of a prostitute. There's also the supporting characters of one of the Generals' daughters and a young Lance-Corporal, along with a French Resistance informant, and a few more to help give the film weight and depth.

In fact, a great deal of time is spent in many of the various pieces of plot, which is fascinating because it never comes off as really too bloated. Sure, it may detract from the film if it was only about the plot to kill Hitler. But it's not. The true heart of the story is mostly about the wounds of the war affecting the German soldiers. Some go mad (in the case of the killer), some become monsters, some are turned into heroes to help the military save face, and some begin to find ways to get out of the mess altogether. It also expands on this by showing us post-war sequences, but I will speak no more of this for spoiler reasons.

This diverse range of views and personalities really helps elevate the film above the typical WW2 spy/mystery, especially because one of the issues of doing a story around the Stauffenberg Plot is knowing exactly how it ends already so how do you make it interesting? This movie solves the problem by making it a story about the various stories, characters, and pieces that make the big deal a backdrop for people's lives.

Although a tad on the long side (148 minutes - yikes!), Night of the Generals breezes on by most of the time. A lot of details are required to flesh out the story, especially the smaller scenes used to texture the film and press specific feelings on the audience (particularly the moments between O'Toole and Tom Courtenay), so although some may find it a bit dull or slow to the point at times, there's definitely a specific sense of either being guided by the filmmaker in some scenes or simply being allowed to soak in what these various aspects of life were like. You definitely get a strong sense of "being there" - especially from the very blunt and frank dialogue.

That leads to the best thing I found about the film - it's surprisingly modern. The editing is quite tight, transitions are fast, and there's an increasing sense of realism in the way the characters interact as the movie progresses. You don't feel the disconnection of cliche, of time, of "industry standards" as is sometimes the problem with old WW2 movies. A modern audience today could relate to many of these characters, I think. And the overall flow of the script itself feels more like a very well-written story rather than a rigid structure, which is something you don't see today anymore. On top of this, the way the film handles the psychological elements, the serial killer stuff, is very striking. That it makes it abundantly clear the victims are prostitutes who've had their sex organs stabbed repeatedly (not visually, of course), as well as the sequences of madness in the killer himself, are pretty spot-on and make the picture stand out from the usual films in the genre.

I guess that's the best way to leave it. It stands out well, making itself a unique and fantastic piece to see for fans of WW2 movies and fans of good mystery thrillers. Definitely recommended. :)

Rarely is the gap between a good idea and the finished movie so enormous as it is with Night of the Generals, which is pretty much a shambles from start to finish. The film opens in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, in December 1942, when an anonymous general is accidentally spotted after he's foully murdered a prostitute. Omar Sharif is hopelessly miscast as a truth-seeking German colonel on the trail of the killer. There are three suspects: a general with a hectoring wife, a quiet nervous general, and Peter O'Toole as General Tanz, a psychotic neat freak whose idea of fun is to set fire to a city block with flamethrowers and then have heavy tanks blow up the remaining buildings (historical note: there were in fact no Tiger tanks in Warsaw in December 1942). Now remember, this is supposed to be a mystery. So who might the guilty man be: General Henpecked, General Nervous, or General Completely Freaking Insane? I know who my money is on, even at this early stage. Just as Sharif is getting somewhere he is mysteriously transferred to Paris and oddly accepts the posting, rather than sticking it out and tracking down the murderer.

The film, which has a distressing habit of flicking forward to the 1960s for no obvious reason, then switches to July 1944, when Generals Henpecked and Nervous are in Paris and learn to their distress that Crazy Man Tanz is also about to arrive. Tanz, supposedly a teetotaller, drinks like a fish in the back seat of his car as he tours Paris and pays not one but two visits to an art gallery where he seems curiously obsessed by a Van Gogh self-portrait showing the painter in obviously deranged mood. Tanz is unable to control himself when he sees this work and has a mini-collapse each time. Later he looks at himself in the mirror, adopts the same crazed look as Van Gogh did, and then breaks the glass. So, are there any doubts who the killer is? In fact there aren't, because he picks up a French prostitute, butchers her, and pins the blame on his driver.

At this point you're wondering what on earth the point of the film is and where the mystery might be. But wait, there's more! General Nervous is a ring-leader of the plot to kill Hitler and presses General Henpecked to join the gang. At this moment the film loses all sense of direction or coherence and turns into a pastiche comedy like The Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, an overlong big budget talent-studded farce that came out two years earlier in 1965. For no apparent reason we lurch deep into Operation Valkyrie, the plot to kill Hitler, and watch as a bomb fails to kill the dictator in his bunker. The plotters in Paris move to arrest various pro-Fuhrer elements and send off a column to apprehend Tanz. Sharif, who has been unwisely fraternising with the French resistance, knew of the plan to kill Hitler but did nothing. When he learns of Tanz's imminent arrest, though, he jumps in his jeep, easily overtakes the column (which for all the urgency it's showing might as well be a brass band out on its annual picnic), and confronts Tanz with the accusation that he is the killer.

Sadly, there is quite a bit more. The film continues and ends quite ridiculously. O'Toole gives one of his worst performances and must surely have been in it for the money, Sharif hasn't a hope with his part and accomplished actors such as Tom Courtenay and Donald Pleasance (and others) are totally wasted. This is a lazy film with a truly horrible script and utterly inept direction. I'm glad I had the flu when I watched it because otherwise I would rather have resented the two and a half hours it ate up.

This movie was available to see on BBC iPlayer so, as usual, I checked other viewers' reviews to see if it was worth watching. The reviews were wildly enthusiastic so I watched it but it was so bad I wonder what movie those other people were raving about.

Reading the cast list, I licked my lips. But none of the actors had anything to do in this movie. They all sleep-walk through it giving what must be the most unmemorable performances of their lives. What a waste of talented actors! Peter O'Toole plays 'mad' like a complete ham - I was embarrassed to watch him. Omar Sharif talks his lines instead of acting them. Donald Pleasence gives us his usual stuff which we have seen time and time again in all his movies. Tom Courtenay just looks bilious and bored whether he is supposed to be in love, framed for murder or engaged in office routine. I can't even recall the actresses they were so bad. Oh, and, Christopher Plummer has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene before being blown up.

The plot synopsis sounds like it could have been a fascinating psychological thriller but the reality is as dull as ditch-water - neither thrills nor psychological insight. All the characters are presented in the same two-dimensions, there is no reason to care about any of them, and I just spent my time wishing them to finish sleep-walking through each scene and get it over with. The war, the conspiracy, the murders, the family drama, the 'love interest' should have provided something to hook my attention but not one of these not-quite inter-woven strands of the movie was even competently presented. The script makes you wince. The camera work is leaden. The director has no finesse al all.

I only managed to stay awake through the apparently eternal duration of this film by making dinner and playing on the floor with my budgie while this movie droned on in the background. I gave it one star because I did not in the end gnaw off my own feet but believe me that was only because I had eaten dinner and couldn't face another bite. This is one of those movies that should have been drowned at birth and by the looks of it probably was. Avoid this water-sodden corpse and do yourself a favour.

Peter O'Toole's character in this movie was by far the most evil I've ever seen in my life.

'The Night of the Generals' features an array of good performances, but halfway through it gets somewhat dragged out and over-long.

one of the most superbly shot movies of all time. a montage of top class acting. noone comes close to the performances of O'toole or Shaif

The Night of the Generals
directed by Anatole Litvak
written by Paul Dehn and Joseph Kessel
based on the novel by Hans Hellmut Kirst
starring Peter O?Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Pleasence, Joanna Pettet, Phillippe Noiret, Charles Gray, Coral Browne, Christopher Plummer

The July 20, 1944 plot to kill the Führer is the backdrop in this sordid tale of lust, sex murder, and the Nazi push to conquer the entire known universe.

The film opens with a ghastly murder. A prostitute has been butchered?stabbed over one hundred times?by a General in the German army. The only witness was hiding under the stairs and saw the tell-tale red stripes of the General?s trousers. Major Grau (Sharif) takes the case and learns that three Generals do not have alibis for the night in question. These include the impossibly dapper, and exquisitely high strung General Tanz (O?Toole). Tanz personifies the classic duplicity of a person who projects a precise image of themselves in public while utterly abandoning themselves to a keenly opposing lifestyle while in private. He?s a clean freak, obsessed with order, and must have his bath water at precisely 31 degrees Fahrenheit. He?s also transfixed by Vincent Van Gogh?s ?decadent? self titled work know alternatively as ?Vincent In Flames? and drinks and smokes extensively, something he hides in his clean-cut public image. He?s very fond of art and although he appears exceedingly uncomfortable out in public, there is a direct sense that he is drawn to the sounds, the lights, and the smells of life as it is lived by those not afraid of the dark.

The murder takes over twenty years to solve and it?s no mystery because we see the poor bastard do another one in close to the end. This would be the prime suspect all along, the goodly General Tanz who manages to make it seem as if his orderly Lance Cpl. Kurt Hartmann has committed the crime with some deft maneuvering. The greatly nervous Tanz goes into trances on occasion and especially when he?s gazing at the Van Gogh Painting. It?s supposed to symbol something regarding the madness inherent in the painting and how this triggers the incipient madness lying withing the General who is entirely mad throughout the film.

In many ways this is a film, at least partially, about the relationship between extreme order and dissolution and perhaps how in certain individuals they are forever intertwined. General Tanz is an example of a rigid, exacting type who must have everything precisely as he requires it at all times. But also, he?s fond of drink and manages to put off his obvious discomfort and convinces Hartmann to pick up a whore from inside a bar while he waits in his car. Of course he then uses the fact that others at the bar will have seen Hartmann and not him with the girl as a brilliant ploy to pin the blame on the younger Colonel. He?s not too thrilled with much of what passes for fun in the towns but he seems to like voyeuristically experiencing all of the filth and commonness found in one of these places. He enjoys watching the wretched have their fill at their holy troughs without actually getting his hands dirty. He wears gloves while he smokes and the effect is quite startling.

While General Tanz is shown about Paris, the plot to snuff Hitler is undertaken by a great number of the remaining Generals. Chief amongst these is Maj. General Kahlenberg (Pleasence) who secretly reveals his intentions throughout the early part of the film. We don?t get a clear picture of what is about to unfold until the second half when Kahlenberg openly mentions it. It?s an effective ploy on the part of the film makers because one feels conspiratorial before even quite knowing what is in the works. It?s difficult, to be sure, for most of the audience to relate to Tanz as he is essentially a psychopath albeit with a strange generous side. On one hand he?s doling out foodstuffs for the kiddies and then he turns about and scorches nearly the whole town just because he can. He?s a man with extremely cruel appetites and these almost always go along with an epicurean which can never be fully satisfied by merely beautiful or exotic things. There always has to be a taste of real, toxic horror in order for him to be truly alive. When he?s in control of other lives he himself finally feels as if he is not merely made of wax but fiercely, demonstrably alive.

Major Grau refuses to give up on the case and flat out accuses General Tanz of committing the murders. This only causes Tanz to call him out for supporting the plot. Tanz isn?t confronted with his deeds until twenty years later after yet another murder of a prostitute. He is tracked down by Inspector Morand (Noiret) to a conference in his honor. Naturally, he plays the same devilish cool he does throughout the film and refuses to accept defeat.

There is many pejorative references to prostitutes and their profession in this film. It seems that the film makers want to create a certain disjunct between the lofty pretensions of the Generals and their staff and the whores who they consider are polluting the street with their abject foulness. They are treated like dogs to be kicked, hardly worth troubling oneself over with an investigation. But Grau is unlike the rest. He?s dedicated to finding justice wherever it lies and will not abandon a case merely because the victim is felt to be a second class citizen by many in the upper brass.

Peter O?Toole perhaps is far too elegant and finely clothed in this film. This is the film where certain critics would have all Nazis be grunting, barely articulate fiends hardly capable of appreciating art. But O?Toole is mesmeric in this role and brings out the aesthete Nazi type in full swing. He is appealing which makes people uncomfortable because he is presenting a beautiful, thrilling Nazi to the world which when this film was made was only 22 years from the end of the war. He?s impossibly dashing and incredibly cool throughout the film; he certainly makes for the mannered, precise, hyper-polite sensible creature that the perfectly regulated General we all imagine inhabits with tremendous ease and will. Donald Pleasence has a sniveling quality about him in this film. His character is the antithesis of Tanz. He?s awkward, a bit clumsy, and far too official in his presentation. He appears as if he?s never had a really good time in his whole life. Tom Courtenay gives his character a strong, sturdy effectiveness through his gestures and maneuverings. He?s as controlled as Tanz but it doesn?t quite come off as so aristocratic. He?s still a but rugged and projects actual charm rather than an impenetrable fortress of perfect style and affectation.

Overall, this film resonates as a sensational plot film colored blood red by the gouging of a trio of harlots. The cast is exceedingly effective at bringing these characters vividly to live. Still, no matter what else, this is Peter O?Toole?s film. He commands it from the second he is seen in that uniform replete with long black leather coat. He looks so foreboding and sexualized it?s impossible not to get just a bit of a jolt from apprehending this character. Still, that has everything to do with O?Toole?s precision while portraying the character. He moves his body in an orderly manner that expresses order projected as wholly ideal by the state. Yet, truly, at his core, he?s a degenerate who represents everything the state is trying to eradicate. He?s beyond decadence with his blood lust. Or rather he takes decadence to its logical extreme. He?s cold, reserved, and well spoken. He has never been married for obvious reasons; he is married to the haughty ideals he embodies when he puts on the uniform. In it he is transformed into something vital and very unlike the person he is without it. He is not a stranger to himself.