Five Graves to Cairo Movie Review 1943

Tense WWII thriller finds British soldier John Bramble (Tone) stranded in a small desert town after the defeat of the British garrison by General Rommel's (Von Stroheim) Afrika Korps. Arab hotel owner Farid (Tamiroff) agrees to let Bramble assume the identity of a dead hotel waiter, much to the dismay of French maid Moush (Baxter), whose only interest is in getting her brother out of a German POW camp. The real waiter turns out to have been a secret Nazi spy, fortunately known to Rommel only by name, so Bramble attempts to learn where the German supply depots have been hidden (the "five graves" of the title)--that is, unless Moush decides to betray him to win her brother's release. Based on the play "Hotel Imperial" by Lajos Biro.

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS
Running time 97 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Mystery & Suspense, World War II Spies, Nazis & Other Paramilitary Slugs, Deserts, Adapted from a Play, Mistaken Identity, Middle East, Grand Hotel, Military: Foreign

Screenplay

Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett

Cast

Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Erich von Stroheim, Akim Tamiroff, Peter Van Eyck, Fortunio Bonanova, Miles Mander, Konstantin Shayne, Leslie Denison, Ian Keith, Frederick Giermann, Fred Nurney

Cinematography

John Seitz

Director

Billy Wilder

Music

Miklos Rozsa

Producer

Charles Brackett, Paramount Pictures