The Night of the Generals:

A Franco-British film on World War II

by Dilshan Boange

World War 2 is an episode of modern history that has given rise to scores upon scores of works of film and literature.

One of the more recent creations of cinema which looks into some of the mystery riddled junctures of Nazi Germany was Valkyrie released in 2008 with Tom Cruise in the lead role. It is based on the assassination plot against Hitler by a group of his own officers in July 1944.

I watched it as a teenager, before the age of DVD dawned and VHS cassettes were the vessels in which works of cinema came alive to audiences at home. It is a film that is set during World War 2 and is linked in its plotline to the events of the assassination bid made on Hitler.

The Night of the Generals is Franco-British World War II film that was released in 1967, directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Sam Spiegel.

Warsaw

It has in its stellar cast stars such as Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettet, and Philippe Noiret. The film is supposedly based to an extent of the novel of the same title by a German author named Hans Hellmut Kirst.

The story begins with the murder of a prostitute in German-occupied Warsaw in 1942. The event causes German military intelligence officer Major Grau played brilliantly by Omar Sharif, to commence investigations, since the victim was also a German informant.

The evidence soon indicates the killer being one of three German Generals: General von Seydlitz-Gabler (played by Charles Gray); General Kahlenberg (played by Donald Pleasence), his chief of staff; and General Tanz (played by Peter O’Toole). However, Grau’s investigation is cut short by being transferred to Paris at the instigation of these officers. Many years after the war, the murder of a prostitute in Hamburg in 1965 draws the attention of Interpol Inspector Morand, who owes a debt of gratitude to Grau for not revealing his connection to the French Resistance during the war.

Almost certain there is a connection to Grau’s 1942 case, Morand reopens the cold case and the story begins to shift between the Europe of the 1960s and the Europe of the 1940s.

The case of the murdered prostitute remains closed until all three suspected Generals meet in Paris in July 1944. Paris is then a hotbed of intrigue, with senior German officers plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Kahlenberg is deeply involved in the plot, while von Seydlitz-Gabler is aware of its existence but is sitting on the fence, awaiting the outcome. Tanz is unaware of the plot and remains totally loyal to Hitler.

Murder

On the night of July 19, 1944, Tanz orders his driver, Kurt Hartmann, to procure a prostitute; Tanz butchers her. He then implicates Hartmann, but offers Hartmann the chance to desert, which he accepts.

When Grau, who is now a Lieutenant Colonel, learns of the murder, committed in the same manner as the first, he resumes his investigation and concludes that Tanz is the killer. However, his timing is unfortunate, because the very next day, the assassination attempt against Hitler takes place. When Grau confronts and accuses Tanz, the general kills Grau and labels him as one of the plot conspirators to cover his tracks.

Years later, Morand begins to tie up the loose ends: he finds no criminal activity from Kahlenberg or Seydlitz-Gabler, but learns of one man who knew which man is the real killer. Therefore Morand confronts Tanz at a reunion dinner for Tanz’s former panze division. What Tanz, however, does not expect is that the accusation is backed by the strength of first hand evidence. Morand produces the driver Hartmann as his witness.

Devoid of power and with no means of escape Tanz is left with only the option of shooting himself.

The end thus speaks that justice was finally achieved for the victims of the sadistic Tanz.