Cinco Covas no Egito

I'm lucky to live very close to a wonderful video store which has an incredible stock of VHS films. I read a description of the film here at the data base and put it on my list. It blew me away from the very first moment. 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 . I can only compare it to Casablanca and The Desert Fox in terms of plot and the quality of the writing and acting. It was a pleasure to watch this actor Tone who was a complete novelty for me walk the tightrope that this story truly is. His history seems to suggest he lived life as he wanted to without much regard for fame .For once I'm glad not to see Cary Grant in a film (I never thought I would say that!).

This picture was a popular hit in the time, concerning about historical deeds, as well as intrigue, action and comedy. In June 1942 things looked black indeed for British Eight Army. It was beaten, scattered and in flight Tobruck had fallen and the rats of desert were besieged . The victorious General Rommel(Erich Von Stroheim) and his Africa Korps were pounding the British back and back toward Cairo and the Suez Canal. On July first 1942, Rommel and his Afica Korps reached El Alamein, as far east as they ever got. The film is set on an Arab Hotel called Hotel Imperial, where its proprietary Farid(Akim Tamiroff) accords to let a British soldier named Bramble(Franchot Tone) assume the identity of a deceased barman. There finds a French chambermaid named Moush(Anne Baxter) whose interest is in obtaining her brother out of a Nazi POW camp . Then, she asks to German lieutenant(Peter Van Eich) to win her brother's release. But the dead waiter results to have been a German spy , so Bramble tries to know where the Nazi supply depots have been stashed. Later Bramble is assigned one mission in Cairo, and on September seventh 1942, a new made Lieutenant bought a parasol at a little shop in Cairo. On October twenty fourth to the skirt of a bagpipe General Montgomery's Eight Army launched its counter offensive .

The film displays suspense, intrigue, action as well as lots of humor and wartime feats. Excellent performances, special mention Erich Von Stroheim as one of his prestigious roles as Nazi general and Fortunio Bonanova as an Italian singer official. Interesting script by Charles Brackett; Billy Wilder also collaborated on the screenplay and is based on the play 'Hotel Imperial' by Lajos Biro. In 1938, started the famed friendship between Charles Brackett and Austrian born Billy Wilder, following his initial hit there the former year with very funny 'The major and the minor' and prospered on such movies as 'Hold back the dawn, Ball of fire and Ninotchka', before they became a director-writer-producer tandem with Billy Wilder doing the film-making . The movie packs an evocative cinematography in black and white by magnificent cameraman John B. Seitz. Atmospheric musical and appropriate musical score by the master Miklos Rozsa. This highly successful motion picture is perfectly directed by the classic Billy Wilder. Rating : Better than average, well worth watching.

It's WW2 and British corporal Franchot Tone (Bramble) is unconscious inside a runaway tank somewhere in the Sahara. He stumbles across a bombed hotel where he is met by the owner Akim Tamiroff (Farid) and the chambermaid Anne Baxter (Mouche). Minutes later, German troops arrive under the leadership of Peter van Eyck (Lt. Schwegler) who takes over the hotel to accommodate his troops and a special guest yet to arrive – none other than the main man Erich von Stroheim (Field Marshal Rommel). Tone is in trouble at this point – what to do? Anne Baxter doesn't particularly like him and threatens to betray him to the new guests. He has to do something bold.

I enjoyed this film. It has a different setting to most war films and it doesn't involve any battles apart from the flag-waving nonsense at the end, which, unfortunately, knocks a point off this film as it goes on for too long. The actors do well, especially von Stroheim and Baxter, although her name in this film isn't very complimentary! Both these actors give their characters a depth that brings them to life. The comedy characters of Tamiroff and Italian General Fortunio Bonanova are OK for what they need to do although Tamiroff can be slightly annoying and Fortunio Bonanova is as unrealistic as his name. It doesn't matter too much as we get a film that keeps the viewer watching with tense scenes and an interesting storyline that ends on an emotional note.

Shot in 1943, this movie gives you what you deserve : some sort of propaganda. But at that time, how many movies could afford to be so unrespectful ? Even if the allies are good and the axis forces evil, they are not depicted as a cliché. For example, Rommel, who was certainly the only "healthy" German general, is full of spirit, always has a good word and is well educated. Erich von Stroheim gives a nice shape to this character. In the meantime, Mouche, the little French maid, is tortured between Pétain and the image of allies. She remembers that "French soldiers were left behind by English ones in Dunkerque and captured or killed". What a stupifying sentence in 1943. But Billy Wilder is cunny enough to say what he had to say owing to his humour. And the screenplay is so clever that for anybody interested in the period (and even if you're not), this movie is worth seeing.

"We shall take that big fat cigar out of Mr. Churchill's mouth and make him say Heil." Erwin Rommel in Five graves to Cairo !

This film has one of the most arresting opening sequences ever made. A WW II tank seems to be aimlessly wandering across the desert. In fact, the crew is all dead but the accelerator is stuck. With a top-notch cast Billy Wilder spins a tale that takes off from that point. The German general (von Stroheim in one of his most telling roles) has been there before - as an archaeologist preparing for the desert campaign long before the war had begun. The notion that archaeologists make good spies (or, in this case, generals) seems to be a common misconception.