Why on earth would anyone want to watch a murder mystery that takes place within the hierarchy of Nazi military might? This film answers that question. After a Polish prostitute/Nazi agent is brutally stabbed to death, intelligence officer Major Grau (Omar Sharif) investigates. The three main suspects are three Nazi generals: golden boy Tanz (Peter O'Toole), creepy Kahlenberge (Donald Pleasence), and family man von Seidlitz-Gabler (Charles Gray). In the middle of his investigation, Grau is transferred to Paris, and does not solve the case. Fast forward two years, and the three generals find their duties also deliver them to Paris, where promoted colonel Grau eagerly awaits his reopening of the case. Von Seidlitz-Gabler's daughter Ulrike (Joanna Pettet) falls for young Corporal Hartmann (Tom Courtenay), who is suddenly assigned to be Tanz's driver and companion in the city. I do not want to give away too much more, but the plot fast-forwards another twenty years, as murders start happening again.
The entire present-day subplot, while sometimes dramatic, and a way to see what happened to the major players, is completely unnecessary. It takes up the last half hour of the film and is anti-climactic considering what has occurred before. Ulrike and Hartmann's romance is also a little silly. She plays the stereotypical officer's brat who rebels by having an affair with an enlisted man. I grew up the son of an Air Force officer, and believe me, rebelling officer's children are usually a figment of Hollywood's imagination. The most interesting aspect of the film is the setting of a murder investigation in the middle of Nazi-occupied territory. Sharif's Grau is no saint, either, but he shows more compassion than his suspects. The fact that the embodiment of evil on earth would be interested in removing one of their own makes for very compelling drama. The murderer is not killing because they are a Nazi, but because they are insane. There is no other motive offered, and I do not think it is very important to the story anyway. This is a serial killer film before the term "serial killer" was coined. Most of the drama takes place in Parisian offices and bars, there is little action save Tanz's extermination of a Warsaw ghetto, and a cameo by Christopher Plummer as Field Marshal Rommel. Watching these incredible actors in full Nazi regalia and saluting Hitler is unsettling, but the story and performances are moving. The film makers find a balance where you cheer for the good guys, without cheering for a bunch of Nazis. James Bond devotees might want to check this out, since both Gray and Pleasence portrayed Blofeld in 007 films, and O'Toole proves why he is one of the screen's greatest actors who never won an Oscar except for an honorary one. "The Night of the Generals" is a high-minded murder mystery that should entertain whodunit and WWII film fans alike. I recommend it.
