History Film / TheNightOfTheGenerals

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The three generals. Kahlenberge is a highly honorable man, Ganz is a cold-hearted BloodKnight, and Gabler is an opportunist, albeit not an unfeeling one.

* ThatOneCase: The murdered prostitutes cause Grau, and eventually Morand, quite a bit of perplexion, and they become determined to solve them.

The movie was notable in its time for its AllStarCast and extensive location shooting; notably, it was the first Western production to film in Warsaw during the Cold War. Unfortunately the production was rather tumultuous: shooting began without a finished screenplay, with producer Sam Spiegel bringing in numerous script doctors (notably Creator/GoreVidal and Robert Anderson) for rewrites while the movie was in production, and his domineering producing style aggravated both director Anatole Litvak and the cast members. Though the movie received respectable critical reviews, it flopped at the box office and became one of Spiegel's least-successful movies.

The second half of the movie moves to Paris in July 1944. The war is turning against the Nazis and several of the main characters become involved in Claus Von Stauffenberg's plot to overthrow Hitler, complicating Grau's murder investigation. He makes a deal with French Inspector Morand (Philippe Noiret), agreeing to release French resistance fighter in exchange for assistance. After another prostitute turns up dead, Grau decides to arrest his culprit amidst the chaos of the attempted anti-Nazi coup.

The story concerns the murder of Polish prostitute Maria Kupiecka in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Ordinarily this wouldn't be of much importance to either the German occupiers ''or'' the local Polish police, but for two things: firstly, investigating German Intelligence officer Major Grau (Creator/OmarSharif) is obsessed with the idea of justice for all ("Justice can sometimes hear the cry of a murdered woman," he insists), whether prostitute or not, and secondly, Maria happened to also be cooperating with the German authorities, meaning Grau has another incentive to find her killer.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Tanz is a ruthless war criminal [[spoiler: and serial killer]] who easily convinces almost everyone he meets, including his own men, that he's a model soldier with at worst some personal eccentricities. During Tanz's brutal operation in Warsaw, he's filmed by a newsreel crew while a radio announcer describes him as a hero battling ruthless "terrorists." Tanz is well-aware of this [[spoiler: as outlined in his [[MotiveRant]] to Hartmann]], knowing ''exactly'' [[ManipulativeBastard how to manipulate]] both the military hierarchy and the politics of the Third Reich to shield himself from responsibility for his actions.

* BloodKnight: General Tanz is ruthless on the battlefield and seems to relish the chance to start a battle. This actually makes Grau consider him less likely to be guilty though, wondering why Tanz would bother killing prostitutes when he has so many opportunities to kill without risking arrest and disgrace.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the changes to the novel are relatively minor. The book features some additional scenes establishing Hartmann not only as a ShellShockedVeteran but landing in trouble with superiors for seditious comments, [[spoiler:which later makes him an easy scapegoat for Tanz's murders.]] There are some more scenes detailing Major Grau and Inspector Morand's relationship (the latter is named Prevert in the book). Possibly the most substantial change involves Tanz, who in the novel works for the East German government after the war and defects to the West after committing another murder, causing old colleagues like Seidlitz-Gabler to embrace him as a patriot. In the film, this is changed to Tanz serving a prison sentence for war crimes, and no one outside the Nibelungen division holds him in high regard any longer.

* BrutalHonesty: Hartmann is a very forthright person and avoids being diplomatic regardless of whether he is requesting a headquarters assignment away from the front with an officer who could refuse his request on a whim, romancing a woman who has heard fabricated stories about his heroism in battle, or giving a GeneralRipper his opinion about art the Nazis have banned. This honesty tends to impress people rather than upset them.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the changes to the novel are relatively minor. There are some additional scenes establishing Hartman not only as a ShellShockedVeteran but landing in trouble with superiors for borderline seditious comments, [[spoiler:which later makes him an easy scapegoat for Tanz's murders.]] There are some more scenes detailing Major Grau and Inspector Morand's relationship (the latter is named Prevert in the book). Possibly the most substantial change involves Tanz, who in the novel works for the East German government after the war and defects to the West after committing another murder, causing old colleagues like Seidlitz-Gabler to embrace him as a patriot. In the film, this is changed to Tanz serving a sentence for war crimes, and no one outside the Nibelungen division holds him in high regard any longer.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the changes to the novel are relatively minor. There are some additional scenes establishing Hartman not only as a ShellShockedVeteran but landing in trouble with superiors for borderline seditious comments, [[spoilers]]which later makes him an easy scapegoat for Tanz's murders.[[/spoilers]] There are some more scenes detailing Major Grau and Inspector Morand's relationship (the latter is named Prevert in the book). Possibly the most substantial change involves Tanz, who in the novel works for the East German government after the war and defects to the West after committing another murder, causing old colleagues like Seidlitz-Gabler to embrace him as a patriot. In the film, this is changed to Tanz serving a sentence for war crimes, and no one outside the Nibelungen division holds him in high regard any longer.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the changes to the novel are relatively minor. There are some additional scenes establishing Hartman not only as a ShellShockedVeteran but landing in trouble with superiors for borderline seditious comments, [[spoiler]]which makes him an easy scapegoat for Tanz's murders.[[/spoiler]] There are some more scenes detailing Major Grau and Inspector Morand's relationship (the latter is named Prevert in the book). Possibly the most substantial change involves Tanz, who in the novel works for the East German government after the war and defects to the West after committing another murder, causing old colleagues like Seidlitz-Gabler to embrace him as a patriot. In the film, this is changed to Tanz serving a sentence for war crimes, and no one outside the Nibelungen division holds him in high regard any longer.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the changes to the novel are relatively minor. Possibly the most substantial involves Tanz, who in the novel works for the East German government after the war and defects to the West after committing another murder, causing old colleagues like Seidlitz-Gabler to embrace him as a patriot. In the film, this is changed to Tanz serving a sentence for war crimes, and no one outside the Nibelungen division holds him in high regard any longer.

** Stauffenberg is shown trying to kill Hitler with a manually-set briefcase bomb filled with dynamite, instead of plastic explosives detonated with magnetic pencils as in RealLife.

**

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Von Seidlitz-Gabler tries to frame his actions this way, though it's clear to Kahlenberg and others that he's simply trying to mitigate.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: As in ''Film/TheDesertFox'' the movie [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade overplays Rommel's involvement]] in the 20 July plot, going so far as to claim that the conspirators plan to name him president of the new government.

* TheFilmOfTheBook: A by-and-large faithful adaptation of Hans Helmet Kurst's novel. The screenwriters also incorporated elements of James Hadley Chase's unrelated novel ''The Wary Transgressor'', particularly in sketching Hartmann's relationship with Tanz.

* DirtyCoward: What Hartmann thinks he is; Ulrika thinks he's a LovableCoward.

** In the second instance, when [[spoiler:Grau]] comes to arrest [[spoiler:Tanz]] for the murders shortly after the assassination attempt against Hitler, [[spoiler:Tanz]] blows him away and then claims [[spoiler:Grau]] had been in on the plot against the Führer.
*** Although this is arguably a case of FramingTheGuiltyParty given that [[spoiler: Grau]], while not a member of the plot, was aware of its existence and made no effort to intervene.

* AmbiguousDisorder: [[spoiler:Tanz]] is driven by a compulsive desire to kill. Even ''he'' can't quite narrow down exactly what's wrong with him. After much soul-searching, he can only conclude that there are "reasons," but the war is what brought his homicidal tendencies to the surface.

NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Despite all of the leads playing Germans, the majority speak in their native accents. Only Creator/OmarSharif even slightly tries to affect a German accent.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The scene where Tanz's troops massacre several inhabitants of Warsaw.

*** Although this is arguably a case of FramingTheGuiltyParty given that [[spoiler: Grau]], while not a member of the plot, was aware of its existence and hadn't arrested Kahlenberg despite knowing of his involvement.

* IFightForTheStrongestSide: Gabler is aware of the plot against Hitler, and turns a blind eye to it, while refusing to give material support. He tries to tell Kahlenberg that this is because if the plot fails, then they'll need friends who are above suspicion to try and help mitigate their punishment. Kahlenberg and the others feel that he simply wants to be in the good graces of the plotters in case they succeed, while minimizing the risk he faces if they fail.

* BigFun: Hartmann's cousin and fellow soldier, Otto.

* BaldOfEvil: What we're led to believe Kahlenberge is. He's actually BaldOfAwesome, because despite looking like a stereotypical Nazi skinhead, Kahlenberge is actually one of the most moral people in the film other than Grau. He hates the hero worship surrounding Tanz, finds his actions in Warsaw to be despicable, and eventually [[spoiler:joins the plot to kill Hitler.]]