''Night of the Fox'' is a 1990 made-for-TV film by Charles Jarrott, based on the 1986 novel of the same name written by Jack Higgins. It was broadcast in France on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

Plot

Professor Alan Stacy visits

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

to complete his biography of his friend and pre-World War II fellow academic Harry Martineau, but arrives on the day of Harry's funeral. Only one mourner is present, Dr. Sarah Drayton. Invited back to her house, he is told by Sarah that the two of them worked for

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) during the war. She shows Stacy a photo of them posing with Field Marshal

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

and then tells the story behind the photo. In the aftermath of the Slapton Sands disaster, Hugh Kelso, a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

colonel, is washed ashore on Jersey, He is rescued by Hélène de Ville, who contacts London. Brigadier Dougal Munro of SOE is aware that Kelso is one of the few officers who know the details of the planned

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. He decides that Kelso must either be rescued or eliminated. He recruits Harry Martineau, a former academic and ruthless killer, now retired, and Sarah Drayton, a nurse with connections in, and local knowledge of, Jersey. Harry is persuaded to undertake one last job. Having previously operated in Germany, he becomes SD ''

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

'' Max Vogel. He is supplied with a forged letter of authority signed by

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

and

Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

. Sarah's cover is that of Anne-Marie de la Tour, his expensive French mistress. The two are smuggled to France and then travel to occupied Jersey. Harry sails on a naval vessel, but Sarah, as a civilian, must travel on a cargo boat commanded by Captain Guido Orsini, an Italian naval officer. Kelso is alarmed by their arrival, as he knows of Harry's reputation as a cold-blooded killer. The plan to evacuate the wounded Kelso is upset by the arrival of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on a surprise tour of inspection. But no one in the party and only one of the German officers is aware that ‘Rommel’ is actually Corporal Erich Berger, an actor who serves as Rommel's double. The real Rommel has been drawn into a

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

to assassinate Hitler and needs to be temporarily away from Germany. A small airplane is sitting at the airfield for the weekly mail flight, but the flight cannot be commandeered except by special authority. Harry unmasks ‘Rommel’ as Berger and gets him to give that authority. Berger agrees to cooperate and reveals that he is actually Heini Baum, a

German Jew The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

who has assumed the identity of the dead Berger and has survived as a soldier. The operation is nearly upset by the arrival of a German

military policeman Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, Screening (tactical), ...

who holds them at gunpoint, but he is overpowered and placed in a car which is set on fire and pushed over a cliff. Sarah, Harry, Baum and Orsini, who has agreed to assist them, commandeer the plane and fly towards France. The crew are overpowered and ordered to fly to England. The plan is discovered, too late, but a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

night fighter is dispatched to shoot them down. One of the crew is killed, and Harry orders the pilot to drop to almost sea-level, drawing down the pursuing fighter, which crashes. They continue to England, now in radio contact with the RAF. On landing, they are surrounded by armed soldiers. Baum rushes excitedly forward and is shot by a guard, ostensibly by accident but probably on Munro's orders. As he dies, he begs Harry to say Kaddish for him. The action returns to the present, and Sarah reveals that she later married Orsini and lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

as Contessa Orsini. She tells Stacy that Harry continued to work for SOE but was shot down by friendly fire a few months later. His body, buried in the

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

marshes, was not found until recently and he has now received a much belated burial.

Cast

* George Peppard as Harry Martineau/ Standartenfuhrer Max Vogel * Deborah Raffin as Sarah Drayton *

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as Dougal Munro * Michael York as

/Berger/Baum *

David Birney David Edwin Birney (April 23, 1939 – April 27, 2022) was an American actor and director whose career included performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film, and television. He is noted for having played the title role ...

as Kelso * Gottfried John as Hofer * Juliet Mills as Barmaid *

John Standing Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherin ...

as Alan Stacey *

George Mikell George Mikell (born Jurgis Mikelaitis; 4 April 1929 – 12 May 2020) was a Lithuanian-Australian actor and writer best known for his performances as Schutzstaffel (SS) officers in '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) and '' The Great Escape'' (196 ...

as Major Hecker *

Demeter Bitenc Demeter Bitenc (21 July 1922 – 22 April 2018) was a Slovenian film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films and television shows from 1953 to 2018. He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Selected filmography * ''Sinji galeb'' (1953) * ''Pu ...

as Col. Halder *

Vincent Grass Vincent Grass (born 9 January 1949) is a Belgian actor. He has appeared in a number of both European and American film and television productions, the first being the Belgian television production ''Siska Van Roosemaal'' in 1973. Grass played Fian ...

as Greiser

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Night of the Fox 1990 films 1990 television films British television films British spy films British war adventure films 1990s spy films 1990s war adventure films World War II spy films Films based on British novels Films based on thriller novels Films set in the Channel Islands Jersey in fiction Films set in France Special Operations Executive in fiction Cultural depictions of Erwin Rommel Films scored by Vladimir Cosma British World War II films Films directed by Charles Jarrott 1990s English-language films 1990s British films