A sex worker/German agent has been murdered in Warsaw. The
only clue to the suspect’s identity is that he was wearing the uniform
of a German general.
As the war turns against the Nazi regime, Major Grau (Omar Sharif) of military intelligence pursues his own rogue investigation into the murder, putting himself on a collision course with his own superiors.
I was not going to write about Night of the Generals - I found it a
bore to watch and obnoxiously self-important. In other words, the polar
opposite of Only the Brave. But as always, there was something about
this movie, and its failure to achieve its muddled goals, that stuck with me.
I remember seeing the cover (above) for this film in a video store back
in the nineties. The cover implies something closer to a horror film than
a murder mystery, and even the title feels something more evocative.
I had not heard great things about it, but I had also not heard any
aggressive critiques of it.
What shocked me about the film was its presentation. Even though the
genre is typically more intimate and small-scale, Night of the Generals
looks and plays more like The Longest Day, a massive war epic with
multiple points of view.
Its very size is part of the problem.
The Night of the Generals is too grand in scope for what the story seems
to be - at least the most functional parts of it.
I do not know what this movie wants to be about. I could not even tell you
whose story it is - we have Omar Sharif’s dogged investigator, Donald
Pleasance’s traitorous general, Tom Courtenay’s troubled veteran and a
host of others. We even get a scene-length cameo from Christopher
Plummer as Rommel.
Underneath the prestige production and big-name cast is a police procedural
about a serial killer - the catch being the culprit is a member of the Nazi war
machine.
This is an interesting kernel of an idea. It sounds like the log-line for a dark
drama about the nature of justice in a fascist regime - or it could be a
Verhoeven-style satire of the same.
Awash in multiple plot lines, Night of the Generals is lost as a story.
Tonally and aesthetically it also feels wrong. Litvak shoots the film largely
in over-lit wides that feel designed to show off the massive sets and costumes,
rather than generate any kind of tension or atmosphere.
Maurice Jarre’s score is intrusive and confuses what the intention of the scenes
are.
Occasionally the film manages to create a sense of the horrors of the war - the
focus on framing scenes in long shots does lend itself to creating certain
juxtapositions - the contrast between General Tanz’s (Peter O’Toole) cool disdain
and the casual brutality around him as he oversees an indiscriminate assault on a
Warsaw neighbourhood.
With the conceit of transitioning between the war and the present day, it also shows
how - disturbingly - these former Nazis have managed to reintegrate into society,
with seemingly no regrets or doubts. This latter point of the film feels particularly
resonant in 2025.
The acting across the board is fine. Appearing due to contractual obligation, O’Toole
and Sharif are unremarkable, considering their other work - O’Toole is suitably
monomaniacal as Tanz; Sharif brings a certain flicker of humour as the dogged
detective.
Inert and bloated, Night of the Generals should only be watched by people intending to do a remake.
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