The Night Of The Generals (1966) [VHS]

Nominally a detective story spanning decades, this story will appeal to all those who enjoy terrific acting and period detail (the period here being WW II, Warsaw 1942 and Paris 1944). However, be warned it takes some stamina to make it through the meandering and overlong plot.

A truly star-studded cast seemingly stolen from the best of David Lean movies (Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay) complemented by Maurice Jarre's music, make this look like it should be more epic. Truth be told the story is rather more intimate. Sharif is Major Grau in Intelligence, who investigates the murder of a Polish prostitute, killed in a savage manner. The sole witness saw only that it was a German general. Only 3 generals did not have alibis, and Major Grau tries to flush the guilty one out, intent on justice. The story goes on to Paris some years later, where another murder occurs when all 3 generals are in town, and finishes in an overlong coda at the end when the murderer is finally brought to justice. The Generals are equally convincingly played by Charles Gray (Blofeld from `Diamonds are Forever'), Donald Pleasance and of course Peter O'Toole when he was a mesmerising presence on screen.

The theme is evident in Major Grau's ironic observation that `..what is admirable on the large scale is monstrous on the small.' Just because a man kills many as a soldier, does this give him a right to kill one innocent and get away with it? Grau's conviction is that the general is confident his title protects him, and is determined (at risk of his career and in fact life) not just to bring justice, but to show him he is not God. Surely the idea is still topical - when war and killing occur on a large scale, it certainly does not mean that justice should be ignored on even the small scale. Perhaps the idea is a peculiarly European one, as evidenced by this being a Franco-English production, and failure at the time at the box office.

The whodunnit becomes clear fairly early in the movie, and the middle third of the movie overwhelmed by the plot to kill Hitler - a murder which threatens to overshadow the finding of a murderer. So we're left therefore with a long and winding road to the finish line, but worth the stroll to take in some of the finest actors of the 60's in their prime, and a literate and thought provoking script.

Much derided on its initial release despire reuniting the Lawrence of Arabia team of Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif (who share little screen time) and producer Sam Spiegel, Anatole Litvak's The Night of the Generals is a different kind of epic failure, and much more interesting than many a success of its day.

Clumsily ripped off by the Vietnam movie Saigon/Off Limits, it's big-budget WW2 murder-mystery that goes off in all directions and frequently completely forgets its nominal main character, Omar Sharif's wildly miscast Nazi military policeman on the trail of the German general who brutally killed a Polish prostitute. In truth his part is little more than a cameo: he never does any detecting, merely occasionally getting information and a nice dinner from Philippe Noiret's French detective while the plot flashes forward to 1967 or off on a tangent with the plot to assassinate Hitler. The fact that so much screen time is devoted to unlikely Lothario Tom Courtney chauffeuring psychotic General Peter O'Toole around Paris doesn't exactly help the whodunit element, especially with his tendency to come over all epileptic every time he sees Vincent Van Gogh's self-portrait in the 'degenerate art' section of the Louvre.

Sharif isn't the only curious casting: it appears that the Wehrmacht did their recruiting almost exclusively at RADA, with their ranks swelled by cockney character players and their general staff by the better spoken staples of the British film industry. Somehow it just doesn't seem right to see John Gregson playing a Nazi...

The film is either too long or too short. As a mystery it needs to be tighter and more focused on the original investigation; as an epic exploration of Nazi opportunism, both during and after the war, it needs to be longer. As it stands, it does neither approach justice. But, sprawling and devoid of suspense that it is, the film still holds the interest, partially out of it's overly elaborate staging (there is one particularly impressive sequence of the razing of a Polish ghetto that highlights Henri Decae's use of color) and it's over-reaching, misdirected ambition. And just when your attention is ready to stray it will throw in some interesting side-note or line of dialogue, such as Noiret's delicious response to Sharif's statement that one of their generals is a murderer: "Only one?" Sadly the raised question of morality being a simple question of scale - that while mass-murder is admirable in war, individual murder remains abhorrent - gets lost along the way.

No extras, but the 2.35:1 transfer does justice to Decae's photography and the price is an absolute bargain.

In 1942 Nazi occupied Poland, a prostitute is mutilated and murdered. The investigating officer (Omar Sharif) narrows down the investigation to three Generals (Peter O'Toole, Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray) but he is transferred to Paris before he can complete his investigation. In 1944 Nazi occupied Paris, all four men are once again simultaneously in the city at the same time and there is a second mutilation and murder of a prostitute. But it will take 20 years and two more killings before justice is done. Directed by Anatole Litvak (ANASTASIA) and produced by Sam Spiegel (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA), this sprawling thriller takes its time in unraveling its story which gives us not only time to know these characters but also allowing a subplot involving the plot to kill Hitler. It's a fascinating look into the psyche of the Aryan arrogance which formed the backbone of Nazism, chillingly personified by Peter O'Toole in peak form here. That great cinematographer Henri Decae makes excellent use of the Panavision screen and the overbaked score is by Maurice Jarre. The large and exceptional cast also includes Tom Courtenay, Philippe Noiret, Joanna Pettet, Christopher Plummer, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, John Gregson and Juliette Greco.

The Sony British import (an American release is imminent) is an excellent wide screen (2.35) Panavision transfer.