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Five Graves to Cairo

145 votes

During the 1942 North African campaign, a British straggler passes as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Erwin Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may provide an even better use.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1943-05-26

Runtime: 96 mins

Director: Billy Wilder

Spoken language: English, Deutsch, Italiano

Genres: War, Thriller, Drama

Original title: Five Graves to Cairo

Production Companies: Paramount Pictures

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Cpl. John J. Bramble / Paul Davos

Franchot Tone

Mouche

Anne Baxter

Farid

Akim Tamiroff

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Erich von Stroheim

Lt. Schwegler

Peter van Eyck

Gen. Sebastiano

Fortunio Bonanova

Second Soldier (uncredited)

Philip Ahlm

Fourth Soldier (uncredited)

Roger Creed

Third Soldier (uncredited)

Hans Moebus

British Captain (uncredited)

Leslie Denison

English Tank Commander (uncredited)

Bud Geary

German Sergeant (uncredited)

Frederick Giermann

German Engineer (uncredited)

Otto Reichow

Trailer Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Art Gilmore

Reviews

John Chard

We shall take that big fat cigar out of Mr. Churchill's mouth and make him say Heil. Five Graves to Cairo is directed by Billy Wilder who also co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Brackett. It's based on the Lajos Biró play Hotel Imperial. It stars Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Van Eyck. Music is by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by John Seitz. Tone plays John Bramble, the sole survivor of a British tank division who stumbles into a near deserted desert town only to find it suddenly fills up with Field Marshall Rommel and his troops. Assuming the identity of a dead waiter at the hotel run by Farid (Tamiroff), Bramble gains the trust of everyone only to learn that the waiter he is pretending to be was actually a secret agent for the Germans. If he can keep up the pretence and not get found out, Bramble could have great impact on the North Africa Campaign. A cracker is this, an early Billy Wilder film that thrives on tension and clever plotting while pulsing with a great literate strength. Cast are more than capable of making the material work as well, with Tone nicely restrained, Baxter very touching (decent French accent too) and Von Stroheim a ball of emotions as a complex laden Rommel. Tech credits are grade "A" stuff, the sound department and Seitz's photography especially lifting the picture still further to classic status. This is no high energy war movie, it's character driven but all the better for it, with Wilder even slotting in moments of humour to sit alongside the sharper edges of the dialogue. From the sombre opening of a tank aimlessly trudging across the desert - the pilot hanging dead from the turret - to a very touching finale involving a parasol, Wilder's movie holds the attention greatly throughout. A masterful story brought to us by a master director. 8/10

2019-06-25

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