Night of the Fox

I paid $1.00 for the VHS version of this movie, only 95 minutes running time. I did not expect to like it mainly because George Peppard is the star. However, it turned out to be very enjoyable, the story has many plot twists and definitely held my interest. The acting is so-so, but not bad enough to ruin the excellent story. It reminded me of Where Eagles Dare in style and execution. In the end, George Peppard steals the show, even if he is too old for the part he is playing. Deborah Raffin is very good, but seems somewhat stiff with forced emotion. Michael York is probably the best of the bunch. Certainly worth your time if you get a chance to watch it. I understand there is a longer version and I would think it would be better than the shortened version I saw.

My review was written in July 1990 after watching the movie on Vidmark video cassette.

Made last year as a miniseries, this espionage program deuts on home video instead but suffers from the truncation.

Less is not always more, as "Night of the Fox" in its current format retains tons of exposition but has no sense of pacing. Plot twists pile one atop the other in unconvincing fashion.

George Peppard is recruited by British general John Mills to pose as a Nazi officer and head to the isle of Jersey to rescue (or terminate) a wounded American soldier (David Birney) who has the plans for the D-Day invasion. British nurse Deborah Raffin is sent along in her fist spy assignment, because Birney is being sheltered by her aunt (Andrea Ferreol).

Lending a note of preposterous coincidence, tale by Jack Higgins (pen name of Harry Patterson) has Field Marshal Rommer (Michael York in a breezy turn) sending his double (also York) to Jersey as a decoy while he plots to kill Hitler. Peppard doesn't know about the ruse and captures the fake Rommel., soon teaming up with the double, who turns out to be a Jewish actor on the lam!

"Fox", named after the Desert Fox Rommel, is rated R for its gore content but is otherwise bland. Peppard is reliable and Ferreol (one-time ample star of the classic "La Grande Bouffe" by Marco Ferreri) develops some panache, while the show's big disappointment is Mills. Having become synonymous with World War II patriotic films in the '40s, here he's the boring bad guy who's set up for needlessly cynical finale as an Allied leader only interested in expediency. It leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

This TV film of 1990 is something of a curiosity. It was made by GMT Productions, a European film company headquartered in France. It was done for TV, and was released in the U.S. on Nov. 28, 1990; but apparently not aired on a major network.

The film is based on a book by Jack Higgins – more on him later. It's a good fiction story – not unfamiliar for war films. And, the setting is very interesting – much of it takes place on the Channel Islands. But beyond that, this movie doesn't have much going for it.

Many people, today especially, may not realize that Germany did invade and occupy a part of Great Britain during World War II. The Channel Islands lie just off Normandy, the northern coast of France, across the English Channel from England. The Germans occupied the islands from the fall of France in June, 1940, until the end of the war. France was liberated within months of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings at Normandy; but it wouldn't be until the end of the war in Europe on May 9, 1945, that the Channel Islands were liberated. German garrisons there held out after the fall of France, although cut off from all reinforcements and supplies. The Allies made no attempt to capture the islands. While the residents had to endure almost another year of oppression and Nazi rule, the islands were spared extensive damage and civilian casualties that likely would have occurred with an Allied attack before war's end.

So the story and setting are interesting and quite good. And they are mostly what earn this film the six stars I give it. The directing and editing are very choppy as though it was made for TV commercial breaks. The production values are poor – another reviewer has noted the post-war props and some other goofs in the making of the movie. The acting of Michael York in his double role as Erwin Rommel and as Corporal Berger is good. The rest of the roles are mostly average, but George Peppard is terrible in his role as Col. Harry Martineau.

Peppard was 61 when this movie came out. And he shows his age and a body that is very much out of condition. Dwight Eisenhower was only 51 at the start of WW II. Few generals stayed in the Army to age 60, yet Peppard plays an obviously older character. Martineau is a special agent of some kind in or for the British Army during WW II. It's never clear just what this is, except that he's an expert and the best at what he does. What he does is alluded to as a variety of things that use a variety of skills. He's fluent in German and other languages. He's a master at espionage with associated skills. He knows the martial arts and associated skills. And, he's a trained killer.

The only problem is that the chain-smoking, over-weight Peppard is no match for the role. So, we see him do very little by way of anything physical. His persona is a silent type. He's stiff, wooden and too sullen. The movie makers probably wanted us to view him as a thinking man, but it doesn't register that way with me. He has very little dialog and very little to say when he does have a line or two.

Michael York, on the other hand, is very good in his double role. Those in the German uniforms all seem to handle their roles much better. Deborah Raffin is OK in her role as Sara Drayton, the supposed mistress of Peppard's second character, Major Max Vogel.

Again, this movie is based on a book by British novelist, Jack Higgins (nee, Harry Patterson). He wrote thrillers and espionage books and was one of the most popular fiction writers of the last half of the 20th century. He took this, his final pen-name, in the 1960s after writing under several other names. As of 2015, he was still alive and writing at age 85. He has 84 novels to his credit with sales over 150 million. His 1975 novel, "The Eagle has Landed," is one of largest selling books ever published – topping 50 million copies. For many years, Higgins has lived in Jersey on the Channel Islands. Several of his books have been made into movies, but only a couple films have been as successful as his books.

This film is somewhat interesting because of the story and the setting. But, many, other than war film fans, may not enjoy it.

This was a film that really keeps a person on the edge of his seat. It followed the novel by Jack Higgins completely. Again, I am probably a little prejudicial as I am a big George Peppard film, I thought this was one of his best perfomances.

I've just watched this courtesy of Youtube. Not a bad copy, though the last third or so had poor lip sync.

The main problem was that Harry Martineau was meant to be 44 (give or take a year) and George Peppard was 62 in 1990, flabby, showing the signs of heavy drinking and soon to be diagnosed with lung cancer.(He was a sixty-a-day smoker and is seen smoking a lot during NOTF.) So hardly an action man, and he had trouble scrambling over a low wall. (It must have been a stunt double shinning up the drainpipe.) Even in the role of a poule de luxe, Sara appeared flamboyantly over-dressed, and I wondered where her several elaborate outfits had come from after the boat on which she was travelling to Jersey sunk; surely not from shops on the island itself, which in 1944 was suffering acute austerity.

The supporting cast all performed well and there was good period atmosphere.