THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS

UK, 1966, 147 minutes. Colour.
Peter O' Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettett, Coral Browne, Charles Gray, John Gregson.
Directed by Anatole Litvak.

The Night of the Generals is spectacular melodrama, with a star cast and filmed in widescreen and colour with a Maurice Jarre score. However it was not as popular at the box office as expected. Perhaps in retrospect it seems better than when it first came out. It offered Peter O' Toole yet another opportunity early in his screen career to portray a menacing madman, he had shown eccentricity in his first roles as Lawrence of Arabia and Becket as well as Lord Jim. There is a strong supporting cast including Christopher Plummer as Rommel and Tom Courtenay. Donald Pleasence is actually a sympathetic General. The film evokes memories of World War Two, the attack on the ghetto at Warsaw, the ruthlessness of the Nazi Generals who are symbols of course for Hitler and the Third Reich. Melodramatic, an interesting study of the relationship of madness, power and sexual deviation. Direction is by Anatole Litvak, veteran director from the 30s in Hollywood.

1. A successful thriller of the 60s? A big spectacular thriller, popular? Impact now? Within the light of the Nazi trend of the 70s films?

2. The appropriate use of Panavision and colour, the Polish locations, Paris locations, modern Germany? The atmosphere of World war II and the 60s? Contrast?

3. The use of so many stars? Audience expectations of their styles? The background musical commentary?

4. The tone of the opening, the background of a lurid mystery thriller? The indication of a General? The introduction of the them of authority, repression, lust and violence? As related to Nazism? In a world atmosphere of war? How well worked out throughout the film were these threads and these themes?

5. The focus of attention on Gruffe and his pursuit of a criminal? Omar Sharif as suitable for this role, his style and intensity? Gruffe and his role in the German Army, his job, as a person? The motivation for his pursuit? His interest in small justice even though there was large injustice during the war? His interviews with the various Generals, his challenging the three? The importance of his seeing General Tanz burning the Warsaw ghetto? The mad and mixed motivations of General Tanz as seen by Gruffe?

6. The development of his pursuit after the years in Paris? The reason for his transferral? The continued relentless pursuit? The nature of his investigation? The coincidence with the plot to assassinate Hitler? Gruffe as a victim of this plot, the irony of his being shot by Tanz?

7. The importance of the French detective finishing the pursuit? The relationship between Gruffe and himself during the war, their meal together, exchanging of points of view and information, the French Resistance? The interviews at the end and the motivation to continue Gruffe's pursuit? The discovery of the truth?

8. Was it evident from the beginning that General Tanz was the murderer? How interesting a characterization of a mad authoritarian General? The particular qualities that Peter O' Toole brought to the role? The nature of the madness, the external asceticism, the devotion to duty, the private self indulgence and alcoholism? His behaviour at parties, his private behaviour? The seeming plausibility of his treatment of the Warsaw ghetto? His cruelty and its destruction? The suspicions of the other Generals? The importance of his Nazi ideology? Tanz and his arrival in Paris, feared by the other Generals, the coincidence of the plot to assassinate Hitler? His being prevailed upon to have a holiday? His searching out of lurid art? Hartmann and his driving Tanz around and seeing him as he really was? The drunkenness, the luring of the prostitutes, the final brutal murder and the ingeniousness of his framing the Corporal? His weakness in letting the Corporal live? How much compassion was there in the audience for General Tanz? Was he meant to be sympathetic in any way? The cruelty of his shooting Gruffe and exploiting the situation of the Generals?

9. The contrast with Hamburg? The unhealthy atmosphere of the reunion, as led by Tanz's assistant, his loyalty during the war, his business role after the war, the rallying round of the former soldiers? The atmosphere of another murder, the confrontation of the truth, especially with Hartmann? The melodrama of Tanz's death? The indication that his kind of personality was ultimately suicidal?

10. Donald Pleasence: was he seriously considered as the murderer, his involvement in the plot against Hitler, his suspicions of Tanz? His role in Paris, his mistake in understanding what had happened in Germany? His post-war success in business? His offering the clues for the apprehension of Tanz? was he a credible German General?

11. Charles Gray: the cautious General, his ambitious wife during the war, the way they had brought up their daughter, the reunion in Paris and his being cautious about supporting the Generals? His post-war life with his wife? The hostility of their daughter? A credible German General?

12. The daughter and her disillusionment with Nazism? Her mouthing the ideology but denying it in her behaviour? Her involvement with the Corporal and her being affected by him? Her being met at the end? And the revelation of the truth by the Corporal? How credible a character was Hartmann? His fear of the war? His relationship with his uncle? His life after the war?

13. How important was the plot to assassinate Hitler and its being visualized? The personality of Rommel and his influence? His accident? The presentation of the plot on the 20th of July, the precipitate judgement of the Generals, the consequences?

14. How interesting was the film as a war film, its analysis of the impact of war on people, and especially on one mad man?

15. How successful was the film as a psychological drama?