The Night of the Generals (La Nuit des généraux)

The Night of the Generals (French La Nuit des généraux) is a 1967 World War II mystery directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Sam Spiegel. A war film with neo-noir touches, it is a French-British-American co-production of about 145 minutes. It premiered in London in late January 1967 and opened in West Germany on 7 March 1967.

The film is loosely based on only the beginning of Hans Hellmut Kirst's 1962 novel of the same name; the credits also cite an incident written by James Hadley Chase. The story opens in occupied Warsaw with the murder of a woman. German intelligence officer Major Grau, leading the investigation, narrows the suspects to three generals. The war interrupts the inquiry, but the case reopens years later in France and the hunt for the killer moves through postwar Europe. Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettet and Philippe Noiret star; Charles Gray, Coral Browne, Christopher Plummer and Juliette Gréco also appear.

Joseph Kessel and Paul Dehn wrote the screenplay; Gore Vidal is said to have contributed but was not credited. Part of the shooting took place in Warsaw, then behind the Iron Curtain, and the final scenes were filmed in Munich. Maurice Jarre composed the score.