The Night of the Generals (1967)

Plot of the Night of the Generals: In 1942 Warsaw, during the German occupation, a prostitute is gruesomely murdered and the perpetrator is partially viewed by a man looking through a crack in a door. He cannot be identified but it is evident that the killer is a German general. The murder is investigated by Major Grau, who determined that one of only three generals could be guilty, but they refuse to see him and eventually they promote him to Lt Colonel to get him out of the way. Fast forward to 1945 in Paris where two of the generals Kahlenberge and Seidlitz-Gabler are remotely involved in the plot to kill Hitler. When General Tanz arrives they need to keep him out of the way since he is a Hitler confident, so they persuade him to take a couple of days off, being driven by a man familiar with the city, Corporal Hartmann, who unbeknown to anyone is the lover of Seidlitz-Gabler’s daughter. Also in the city, by coincidence is Lt Colonel Grau, and when another murder of a prostitute occurs he is on the case.

Content: No sex or nudity although once implied. Some drinking, mainly of wine in formal gatherings and some smoking. Although three murders of prostitutes occur the bodies are not seen. Grau trogs about questioning people. Generals Kahlenberge and Seidlitz-Gabler are often in conference and it is a while before we find out that they are in the plot to kill Hitler, which is also featured. General Tanz blows up and fire bombs bits of Paris before being persuaded to take a rest. When being driven about by Hartmann and during visits to art galleries the general’s weirdness becomes evident. Grau becomes friendly with a French policeman who features strongly in the film climax which occurs 20 years later.

A View: The film is now quite well thought of although was not too popular at the time. It seems likely that including the plot to kill Hitler in it was something of an error, since we begin to wonder what the point of the film is, particularly that, when the plot fails, there is no sign of any repercussions in Paris although there must have been. I found Donald Pleasence particularly engaging as General Kahlneberge. So not exactly a must see, but it passes the time OK.

Fun Fact: Peter O’Tool and Omar Sharif appeared as a thank you to Sam Spiegel, the producer, for making them stars in Lawrence of Arabia.