Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, The (1951)
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951), directed by Henry Hathaway.
Not so much a war movie as a bio-pic of the field marshall's last couple of years: his growing disillusionment with Hitler and complicity with conspiracies to remove him. Worthwhile if you are interested in the history or the man. The failed bomb plot is always an exciting story, but Rommel was not directly involved. His treason was knowing about it and saying nothing.
James Mason played Rommel again in The Desert Rats (1953).
Rommel has always been everyone's favorite German general. It would be interesting to trace the development of his legend; it started at the time of the actual battles. See the wikipedia article for more. It says:
quote
As one of the few generals who consistently fought the Western Allies (he was never assigned to the Eastern Front), Rommel is regarded as having been a humane and professional officer. His Afrikakorps was never accused of war crimes. Soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely. Furthermore, he ignored orders to kill captured commandos, Jewish soldiers and civilians in all theaters of his command.
Late in the war, Rommel was linked to the conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler. Because Rommel was widely renowned, Hitler chose to eliminate him quietly. Rommel agreed to commit suicide by taking a cyanide pill, in return for assurances his family would be spared.
