Clarissa Mora
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Kirpianuscus
a crime. a hunt. three suspects. the truth. few scenes who are not only remarkable but gives high force to admirable performances. and it is not a surprise because the cast is the basic virtue of a film about war, difficult decisions and justice. a historical film in same measure a crime movie. the manner to recreate the atmosphere of the period, the tension, the music are pieces of a fascinating film in which Peter O 'Toole is magnificent. because the image has the rare gift to become memory in a wise style. because it seems more a parable or a Medieval story about the victory of the good side against darkness of ambiguity. a film about madness in war time. and one of the films who presents a not ordinary perspective about war.
SnoopyStyle
It's 1942 Warsaw. A Polish prostitute is sadistically murdered. She was a German agent and German Intelligence Major Grau (Omar Sharif) investigates. A witness saw a General's uniform. He zeroes in on General von Seydlitz-Gabler (Charles Gray), his chief of staff General Kahlenberg (Donald Pleasence) and General Tanz (Peter O'Toole). Grau is promoted away to Paris by General Kahlenberg. All four are reunited in 1944 Paris as an assassination attempt takes place against Hitler. In 1965, Interpol Inspector Morand reopens the case trying to piece together the clues. The movie switches back and forth between the two periods.It's an old fashion crime mystery in the times of war. It's a little hard to get involved. Normally the story would just follow Grau and the audience can solve the case alongside him. This one follows everybody because of its structure. It meanders. I keep waiting for the story to get back to the murder mystery as the movie follows the generals in their war. I wish the movie keeps it more like a police investigation and maintain a higher level of tension. It should be constantly reminding the audience of the brutal murder. If they want to make a movie about Valkyrie, they could do the real story.
jkochoa4966
The truth is different nationalities conduct themselves differently. A Mexican might act differently than someone from China. An Eskimo might have a different dialogue than Frenchman. And of course, Germans are quite different than the English. What made this movie ridiculous (in addition to the supposed Nazi era Germans concerned with the murder of a prostitute in occupied Poland) is the very British dialogues, sensibilities that make this movie too unrealistic to be taken seriously. Omar Shariff as a nazi General? What's next Will Smith as Hitler? Of all the recognizable actors in this flick, Donald Pleasance did the best job in acting the part. This movie reminded me of the casting of the 1970s movie about the Hindenburg in which more than a few Jewish actors portrayed the nazi era German passengers at a time when its unlikely that they would have a premier seat on the luxury airship or be employed in the crew.
Spikeopath
The Night of the Generals is directed by Anatole Litvak and written by Paul Dehn, Joseph Kessel & Gore Vidal, based on the novel of the same name written by Hans Hellmut Kirst. It stars Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray, Joanna Pettet & Philippe Noiret. Maurice Jarre scores the music and Henri Decae photographs it. Distributed by Columbia Pictures it's a Technicolor and Panavision production, with the primary location for the shoot being Warsaw, Poland. Plot centres around the hunt for a serial killer of prostitutes during the second World War, with the evidence pointing to it being a General in the German army. Nazi officer Major Grau (Sharif) is the man taxed with flushing out the madman.Is it comedy, drama or an in depth character study of Nazi evility? Perhaps all three? Either way, The Night of the Generals is an acquired taste and a film that's hard to recommend with any great confidence. With a big budget and an international cast of numbers, the makers intended to take the bite of Kirst's novel and blend it with grandiose characterisations: I mean the Hitler assassination plot is in the mix somewhere. What follows, dragged out over a far too long 150 minutes, is a film dotted with moments of class, punctured by moments of borderline camp comedy. Some of the dialogue is very precious, but again at times some discussions beggar belief. It's such a shame that a production with much going for it, such as the sets, location, photography, source material and cast, ultimately runs out as a collage of good intentions & bad ideas. Still, it is fun to watch, which in a film containing savagery and deprivation, probably gives you the best idea of how to approach the film.O'Toole is an absolute riot, playing it insane and pompously dandy, his performance alone is worth getting the numb backside for. But was it meant to be played that way? Rumours suggest that O'Toole was mortified about the behaviour of producer Sam Spiegel, particularly towards Litvak. So Pete, bless him, decided to totally have fun with the role, and he did, and in the process raises laughs aplenty. Sharif, Pleasence and Gray (woo hoo, Blofeld's R Us) manage to keep straight faces long enough to earn their money, while Technicolor beauty comes in the form of Pettet & Véronique Vendell. There's even some cameos to look out for, notably Christopher Plummer as Rommel. The rest either come and go without great impact, or in the case of Courtenay, just look star struck around O'Toole.If come the end you remember the nastiness within or a great action sequence? (whoosh those flamethrowers), then the film has in part done its job. If, however, you still find yourself giggling at O'Toole's hysterics? Then it most likely has not? Lest of course that was the intention.......5/10
