It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book Rommel: The Desert Fox by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the British Indian Army in North Africa.

[3] The black and white format facilitated the use of large sections of actual documentary footage of World War II throughout the film.

Finnish president and Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim's personal Mercedes-Benz 770, a gift received from Adolf Hitler, was used as a prop car during the film's shooting.

A phone call from Adolf Hitler promptly returns him to his Afrika Korps command, with the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery poised to counterattack the Axis forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein.

An old family friend, Dr. Karl Strölin, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, visits him to request he join a group of dissidents plotting to overthrow Hitler.

He and his superior, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, are handicapped by Hitler's astrology-based belief that the real invasion will come at Calais.

Hitler then compounds his error by refusing to release troops and tanks desperately needed to halt the Allies, and again forbids an orderly retreat to set up a strong defense in depth.

On July 20 Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg plants a bomb at Hitler's feet during a meeting of the general staff at the Wolf's Lair.

Soon after, General Wilhelm Burgdorf is sent by Hitler to charge Rommel with treason, instructed to offer the beloved national hero a choice between sure conviction, destruction of his reputation, and death by garrote, or an immediate but painless suicide (with his passing attributed to cumulative war wounds), along with the promise that his wife and son will be well looked after.

A voiceover of an actor reciting a speech British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered to the House of Commons in praise of Rommel for his chivalry in battle, tactical genius, and courageous stance against Hitler leads to the credits.

[17] The movie played a significant role in the Rommel myth, a view that the Field Marshal was an apolitical, brilliant commander.

From 1941, it was picked up and disseminated in the West by the British press, as it sought to explain its continued inability to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.

His reputation for conducting a clean war was used for the West German rearmament as well as reconciliation between the former enemies – Britain and the United States on one side and the new Federal Republic on the other.