Five Graves to Cairo

Five Graves to Cairois a 1943war filmdirected byBilly Wilderand starringFranchot ToneandAnne Baxter.Set inWorld War II,it is one of a number of films based onLajos Bíró's 1917 playHotel Imperial: Színmű négy felvonásban,including the 1927 filmHotel Imperial.Erich von StroheimportraysField MarshalErwin Rommelin a supporting performance.

Five Graves to Cairo
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder
Written by	Charles Brackett Billy Wilder
Based on	Hotel Imperial byLajos Bíró
Produced by	B. G. DeSylva
Starring	Franchot Tone Anne Baxter Akim Tamiroff Erich von Stroheim
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Edited by	Doane Harrison
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 4, 1943(1943-05-04)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$855,000 (estimated)
Box office	$1,650,000 (US rentals)

Hans Dreier,Ernst FegtéandBertram C. Grangerwere nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Art Direction,John F. SeitzforBest Cinematography,andDoane HarrisonforBest Film Editing.

Plot

Corporal John Bramble is the sole survivor of a British tank crew afterErwin Rommeland hisAfrika Korpscapture Tobruk in June 1942and pursue the British intoEgypt.He stumbles across the North African desert into the town of Sidi Halfaya, where he finds the Empress of Britain, a small, isolated hotel owned by Farid. The only other employee is the French chambermaid Mouche, as the cook fled with the British and the waiter Davos was killed the night before by German bombing.

Farid hides the now-unconscious Bramble when the swiftly advancing Germans take over the hotel to use as headquarters for Field Marshal Rommel and his staff. Bramble assumes the identity of Davos to save himself. When Rommel summons him to a private chat, Bramble is stunned to discover that Davos was a valued German spy, but manages to play along. He learns that he is to be sent toCaironext.

Later, he steals a pistol from genial, music-lovingItalianGeneral Sebastiano, planning to serve the field marshal a bullet rather than coffee the next morning. Not wanting trouble, Mouche steals the pistol and waits on Rommel herself. When some captured British officers are brought to the hotel for a luncheon with Rommel, one of them (a past guest) realizes that Davos has been replaced. Bramble privately explains who he is and what he plans to do. The officer orders him to use his position of trust to gather military intelligence instead.

At the luncheon, Rommel teases his guests, allowing them to ask himtwenty questionsabout his future plans. Bramble listens with interest. 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. The final piece of the puzzle (their locations) falls into place when Bramble realizes that Rommel's cryptic references to points Y, P, and T refer to the precise locations of the letters of the word "Egypt" printed on his map.

Meanwhile, Bramble and Mouche clash. She despises the British, believing they abandoned the French, including her two brothers, atDunkirk.He in turn becomes disgusted at how she plays up to the Germans. As it turns out, Mouche's motives are not mercenary; she pleads with Rommel to release her wounded soldier brother from aconcentration camp.He is unmoved, but his aide, Lieutenant Schwegler, is more appreciative of her charms. He pretends to help her, showing her fake telegrams to and from Germany.

That night however, when everyone takes shelter in the cellar during an Allied air raid, Schwegler discovers the body of the real Davos (identified by hisclubfoot), uncovered by the bombing. In the noise and confusion of the raid, Schwegler chases Bramble through the darkened hotel, before Bramble kills the German and hides the body in Mouche's part of the servants' room. When Mouche finds out, she threatens to unmask him. However, she has a change of heart. Schwegler's body is soon found, and Rommel accuses her of killing his aide when she discovered he was lying about trying to get her brother released. To protect Bramble, Mouche confirms this. Bramble leaves for Cairo, but arranges for Farid to present evidence the next day at Mouche's trial that "Davos" committed the crime.

Bramble's information allows the British to blow up the dumps and thus thwart Rommel's plans, culminating in theSecond Battle of El Alamein.When Bramble returns to Sidi Halfaya in triumph with his unit, he learns the Germans executed Mouche, even though she was exonerated of Schwegler's murder, because she would not stop saying that the British would be back. Bramble takes the parasol he bought her in Cairo, something she always wanted, and places it to provide shade for her grave.

Cast

Peter van Eyckin theFive Graves to Cairotrailer.

• Franchot Toneas Corporal John Bramble
• Anne Baxteras Marie-Jacques Claire akaMouche
• Akim Tamiroffas Farid
• Fortunio Bonanovaas General Sebastiano
• Peter van Eyckas Lieutenant Schwegler
• Erich von StroheimasField MarshalErwin Rommel

Production

Production lasted from January 4 to February 20, 1943. It was filmed at Paramount Studios,Hollywood, California,with some exteriors of Sidi Halfaya (a fictionalized version ofSidi Barrani) shot on location at theSalton Seaand other exteriors filmed at Camp Young at the ArmyDesert Training Center,Indio, California,where, with the cooperation of the Army Ground Forces, a battle sequence was staged, and inYuma,Arizona.

Wilder wantedCary Grantto play the role of Bramble. Grant was repeatedly asked by Wilder to star in several of his films, but though the two were friends, Grant consistently refused.

AHollywood Reporternews item reported that in November 1942,David O. Selznickhad agreed to lendIngrid Bergmanfor this film. However, Paramount instead borrowed Anne Baxter fromTwentieth Century-Fox.

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 slipped. The British hero was played by an American actor who spoke with an American accent.

The German tanks in the film are AmericanM2 light tanks,which were used for training, while British forces at the time had the AmericanM3 Medium tank.

Reception

Bosley CrowtherofThe New York Timesgave the film a mixed review. 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. Boy, what a nasty Hun!"However, he was less than impressed with the rest, complaining, "As though this fanciful story weren't sufficiently hard to take, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, a couple of old-hand Paramount wags, have dressed it up with shenanigans which have the flavor of fun in a haunted house.""It has a little something for all tastes, provided you don't give a darn."TheVarietymagazine 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."Dave Kehrof theChicago Readeragreed, characterizing the film as a "crisp spy thriller" and, as Wilder's second stint at directing, "Excellent apprentice work, with many Wilder themes seething beneath the surface."

In 2008, Quentin Tarantino listedFive Graves to Cairoas his 10th favorite film of all time.

Real-life connection

BrigadierDudley Clarke,the commander of theBritish deception departmentbased in Cairo, sawFive Graves to Cairoin January 1944 and was inspired to createOperation Copperhead.GeneralBernard Montgomeryhad recently been transferred from North Africa to England to take command of the ground forces intended for theNormandy invasion.Clarke located alook-alike,pre-war actor LieutenantM. E. Clifton James,and had him study Montgomery's appearance and mannerisms. 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. 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 titledI Was Monty's Double.

Home media

The film is available onVHS,DVDandBlu-ray.

External links

• Five Graves to CairoatIMDb
• Five Graves to Cairoat theTCM Movie Database
• Five Graves to Cairoat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Five Graves to CairoatRotten Tomatoes
• Five Graves to CairoatBox Office Mojo
• Five Graves to CairoonLux Radio Theater:December 13, 1943