In the third episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries
The Winds of War, President Roosevelt has dispatched Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (
Robert Mitchum) to Germany, there to try to reason with the power-mad Adolf Hitler (Gunter Meisner), whose army has just invaded Poland. Henry also confers with Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini (Enzo Castellari), who proves to be as stubborn as Hitler is obsessed. Also figuring in Henry's foredoomed negotiations is anti-semitic German banker Wolf Stoller (
Barry Morse), the proverbial "smiler with the knife", at whose sumptuous dinner party Henry's wife Rhoda (
Polly Bergen) almost forsakes her common sense.
The Winds of War was adapted by
Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide