... and that may be largely due to him being at MGM and getting parts that really didn't play to his strengths. "Phantom Lady" was another dynamite part for him, but I digress.
British tank crewman J.J. Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the sole survivor of his group, and after wandering through the desert, he arrives in a small North African desert town. He is taken in by the local hotel owner Farid (Akim Tamiroff) who, along with French maid Mouche (Anne Baxter), are the only occupants left in town. When the German army moves in and takes the hotel over as their HQ, Bramble pretends to be a crippled servant. The leader of the occupiers is none other than General Erwin Rommel (Erich von Stroheim), so Bramble sets out to kill the military commander or at least gain some valuable intelligence.
Billy Wilder does an excellent job of building suspense on many levels as more aspects of the characters are discovered as the film progresses. Tone does an admirable job of portraying someone pretending to be someone with secret knowledge that he in fact does not possess. The only bad thing I can say about Tone's performance is that he doesn't even attempt an accent, which stands out all the more as the German characters all speak in German or with German accents, as well as Baxter (French) and Tamiroff (generic Middle Eastern). Von Stroheim is great as usual as the German military genius, even if he bears little resemblance to the screen depiction of Rommel that I always picture, James Mason from The Desert Fox (1951). The movie earned 3 Oscar nominations, for Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Art Direction, and Best Editing and is well worth a watch for a film from a year full of shrill productions.
British tank crewman J.J. Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the sole survivor of his group, and after wandering through the desert, he arrives in a small North African desert town. He is taken in by the local hotel owner Farid (Akim Tamiroff) who, along with French maid Mouche (Anne Baxter), are the only occupants left in town. When the German army moves in and takes the hotel over as their HQ, Bramble pretends to be a crippled servant. The leader of the occupiers is none other than General Erwin Rommel (Erich von Stroheim), so Bramble sets out to kill the military commander or at least gain some valuable intelligence.
Billy Wilder does an excellent job of building suspense on many levels as more aspects of the characters are discovered as the film progresses. Tone does an admirable job of portraying someone pretending to be someone with secret knowledge that he in fact does not possess. The only bad thing I can say about Tone's performance is that he doesn't even attempt an accent, which stands out all the more as the German characters all speak in German or with German accents, as well as Baxter (French) and Tamiroff (generic Middle Eastern). Von Stroheim is great as usual as the German military genius, even if he bears little resemblance to the screen depiction of Rommel that I always picture, James Mason from The Desert Fox (1951). The movie earned 3 Oscar nominations, for Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Art Direction, and Best Editing and is well worth a watch for a film from a year full of shrill productions.