Twentieth Century-Fox will release in Germany the American-made film “The Desert Fox, ” which glorifies Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, despite a clear indication from the State Department that the American Government believes that release of the film will give rise to an unfavorable reaction and would rather not have the film shown in “Western Germany, it was learned here yesterday.
In a letter to Paul Ginsberg, national commander of Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Geoffrey W. Lewis, acting director of the State Department’s Bureau of German Affairs, declared that “the Department shares your concern over the production at this time of a motion picture tending to glorify the career of a Nazi general. ” The letter also revealed that the State Department had sought to convince the movie corporation not to produce the film originally, but had failed.
“As you are probably aware, ” the State Department official’s letter added, “the Department has no control over the selection of motion pictures brought into Germany by American producers. We have made plain to Twentieth Century-Fox however, that we feel the reaction to this film in Germany would be most unfortunate and that we hope it will not be circulated there. “
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