Introduction

Rommel is a 2012 German television film first shown on Das Erste. It is a dramatisation of the last days of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Outline

This made-for-TV-movie starts on the last day (14 October 1944, World War II) of Rommel’s life with a talk between him and generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel. In this talk the generals present incriminating material. They say Rommel has the choice between suicide and a trial before the Volksgerichtshof. After this scene the last months of his life from March 1944 are presented chronologically. At this time Rommel is responsible for the Atlantikwall built to prevent an invasion by the allied forces.

Cast

• Ulrich Tukur as Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel
• Tim Bergmann as Oberstleutnant Caesar von Hofacker
• Rolf Kanies as Oberst Eberhard Finckh
• Patrick Mölleken as Manfred Rommel
• Hanns Zischler as Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt
• Klaus J. Behrendt as Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
• Benjamin Sadler as Generalleutnant Dr. Hans Speidel
• Aglaia Szyszkowitz as Lucie-Maria Rommel
• Robert Schupp as Hauptmann Hermann Aldinger
• Peter Wolf as SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner
• Hubertus Hartmann as General der Infanterie Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel
• Vicky Krieps as Comtesse La Rochefoucauld
• Michael Kranz as Feldwebel Karl Daniel (Rommel’s driver)
• Johannes Silberschneider as Adolf Hitler
• Oliver Nägele as General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt
• Hary Prinz as General der Panzertruppe Leo Geyr Von Schweppenburg
• Hans Kremer as General der Artillerie Erich Marcks
• Peter Kremer as General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf
• Thomas Thieme as Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge
• Max von Pufendorf as Generalmajor Hans-Georg von Tempelhoff
• Herbert Forthuber as Generalleutnant Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld
• Joe Bausch as Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (uncredited)
• Ralf Dittrich as Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model (uncredited)
• Detlef Bothe as SS-Gruppenführer Carl Oberg (uncredited)
• Arthur Klemt as SS-Standartenführer Helmut Knochen (uncredited)
• Harry Blank as Generalleutnant Rudolf Schmundt (uncredited)
• Karl Knaup as Roland Freisler (uncredited)

Trivia

• After his father’s death, Manfred Rommel was conscripted to the paramilitary work service until his desertion and capture by the French First Army in April 1945. After the war, Manfred Rommel studied law at the University of Tübingen. In 1974 he was elected mayor of Suttgart and began a much-publicized friendship with US Army Major General George S. Patton IV, the son of his father’s World War II adversary, George S. Patton. He was also friends with David Montgomery, the son of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery.
• While a lot of German generals are presented in this movie, Von Rundstedt usually did not wear the general’s collar insignia, but the regular officer’s double bar with a white background from the parade uniform. These were signs of his rank as honorary colonel of his old regiment. It is as peculiar as Montgomery with his two badges on his beret. The white double bar can be seen on the movie A Bridge Too Far (1977), with Wolfgang Preiss as Von Rundstedt.
• Rommel’s aide, Captain Hermann Aldinger, had served with him in the First World War in The Württemburg Mountain Battalion in 1916-18 as a subordinate officer when Rommel achieved his greatest World War I exploits at the battle of Caporetto which led to Rommel to being awarded the Pour le Merité, aka the Blue Max, Imperial Germany’s highest military decoration.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Niki Stein … (as Nikolaus Stein von Kamienski)
• Producer(s):
  • Thomas Buchwalder … line producer: France
  • Dirk Ehmen … supervising producer
  • Chris Evert … line producer
  • Manfred Hattendorf … producer: SWR
  • Nico Hofmann … producer
  • Ariane Krampe … producer
  • Michael Schmidl … producer: SWR
  • Jürgen Schuster … producer
  • Sascha Schwingel … producer
  • Christine Strobl … producer: SWR
• Writer(s):
  • Niki Stein … (as Nikolaus Stein von Kamienski)
• Music:
  • Jacki Engelken
  • Ulrik Spies
• Cinematography:
  • Arthur W. Ahrweiler
• Editor(s):
  • Corina Dietz
• Production:
  • ARD Degeto Film
  • Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
  • Cactus Films
  • (executive production)
  • Orangefilms
  • Südwestrundfunk (SWR)
  • teamWorx Television & Film
  • Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
• Distributor(s):
  • Universum Film (UFA) (Germany, 2012)(DVD)
  • Divisa Home Video (Spain, 2013)(DVD)
  • Filmédia (France, 2013)(DVD)
• Release Date: 01 November 2012.
• Running Time: 120 minutes.
• Rating: TV-14.
• Country: Germany.
• Language: German.

Video Link(s)