A murder mystery that starts in German occupied Warsaw in 1942 and ends in Hamburg in 1965, and along the way encompasses Operation Valkyrie, theplot by top German officers to assassinate Hitler, and the inspiration for the forthcoming Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie . But it’s the murder of a prostitute that occupies Major Grau, an intelligence officer with an abiding desire to see justice done, no matter how low the victim or how high the culprit. Grau’s three suspects are Generals Kahlenberg, von Seidlitz-Gabler and Tanz, and each has something to hide but which is the Nazi equivalent of Jack the Ripper?
There isn’t really a star in Night of the Generals, even though the film has a pretty starry cast, with the film’s focus shifting at different points. Omar Sharif is Grau who provides the thrust of the story, but other than a disinterest in the Hitler assassination attempt, a liking for French wine and a dogged determination to see a job done, we don’t really find out anything about him. In the role of Kahlenberg, Donald Pleasence brings some humour to the film but again we don’t really find out what makes him tick.
