Production lasted from January 4 to February 20, 1943. Later, he steals a pistol from genial, music-loving Italian General Sebastiano, planning to serve the field marshal a bullet rather than coffee the next morning. However, it’s a tagline that draws a person in, much like Godard’s often-quoted line “All you need is a girl and a gun”. From the conversation and later remarks by Rommel, he eventually deduces that the field marshal, disguised as an archeologist before the war, had secretly prepared five hidden supply dumps, the "Five Graves to Cairo", for the conquest of Egypt. As it turns out, Mouche's motives are not mercenary; she pleads with Rommel to release her wounded soldier brother from a concentration camp. Two Hollywood films dramatizing the British defeat were filmed within a year of the actual event: Five Graves to Cairo is a 1943 war film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter. The British Army, retreating ahead of victorious Rommel, leaves a lone survivor on the Egyptian border who finds refuge at a remote desert hotel. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. "[2] The Variety magazine response was more generous, calling it "a dynamic, moving vehicle" and praising Wilder's handling of "the varied story elements, countless suspenseful moments and vivid portrayals in excellent fashion. During a high profile Mafia testimony case in California's Riverside County, a hired killer checks into a hotel room near the courthouse, while his depressed next-door neighbor wants to commit suicide due to marital problems. He learns that he is to be sent to Cairo next. The British Army, retreating ahead of victorious Rommel, leaves a lone survivor on the Egyptian border--Corporal John Bramble, who finds refuge at a remote desert hotel...soon to be German HQ. 1 VIDEO | 40 IMAGES. Bramble privately explains who he is and what he plans to do. Five Graves to Cairo(1943) Directed by Billy Wilder. The Germans are played by German actors and thus speak with the right accent, except for von Stroheim, who had emigrated from Austria to the US at the age of 24 and whose accent occasionally slips. This time, the action is transplanted from World War I Galicia to World War II Egypt as Rommel's Afrika Corps viciously forces the British Army to retreat towards Cairo. Set in World War II , it is one of a number of films based on Lajos Bíró 's 1917 play Hotel Imperial: Színmű négy felvonásban , including the 1927 film Hotel Imperial . Quentin Tarantino has listed the film as one of his 10 favourites of all time.[6]. He admired one performance, writing, "... von Stroheim has all other movie Huns backed completely off the screen" and " ... whenever he appears in this picture, ... , he gives you the creeps and the shivers. Though the ruse did not appear to have any significant impact on German plans, the events of Operation Copperhead were in turn dramatized in a book and a movie, both entitled I Was Monty's Double. But first came 1943’s Five Graves to Cairo, which is far from the typical wartime morale-builder. I can only compare it to Casablanca and The Desert Fox in terms of plot and the quality of the writing and acting. The wartime espionage thriller FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter, marks Billy Wilder's second directorial effort. five graves to cairo (1943). At the luncheon, Rommel teases his guests, allowing them to ask him twenty questions about his future plans. However, she has a change of heart. Bramble listens with interest. After wandering through the desert, Bramble finds a remote hotel. "Academy Awards Search: Five Graves to Cairo", Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "Quentin Tarantino's handwritten list of the 11 greatest films of all time", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Five_Graves_to_Cairo&oldid=1003571615, Films with screenplays by Charles Brackett, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 January 2021, at 16:52. A character-driven puzzle box of a film (the title itself being a key component), its satisfaction granted by Wilder and Brackett is of the rare transcendent variety. Rod Crawford . Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement. Five Graves to Cairo 1943 During World War II, an undercover British soldier tries get word to the Allies that the Germans have tons of supplies buried in five excavations across Egypt. Not wanting trouble, Mouche steals the pistol and waits on Rommel herself. Like much of Wilder’s finest work, Five Graves to Cairo lives and breathes in both its own time and for all audiences going forward. The actor then made public visits to several Mediterranean bases in the guise of Montgomery just a few days before D-Day in an attempt to convince German intelligence that an Allied attack on Northern Europe was not imminent. When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German P.O.W. Sadly , I've been unable to show it to many people since it seems to exist on DVD only in a PAL version although it has made its way to Divx recently . To survive, Bramble assumes an identity which proves perilous. To protect Bramble, Mouche confirms this. Erich von Stroheim portrays Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in a supporting performance. There, in order to stay alive, he assumes a false identity. Farid hides the unconscious Bramble when the swiftly advancing Germans take over the hotel to use as headquarters for Field Marshal Rommel and his staff. 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