Les cinq secrets du désert

Original title: Five Graves to Cairo

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

7.3K

YOUR RATING

In the North African campaign a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.

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During the 1942 North African campaign, a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Romme... Read allDuring the 1942 North African campaign, a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.During the 1942 North African campaign, a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

7.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 3 nominations total

Lt. Schwegler
(as Peter Van Eyck)

Erich von Stroheim

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Philip Ahlm

Second Soldier
(uncredited)

Kenneth Anspach

German Soldier
(uncredited)

Roger Creed

Fourth Soldier
(uncredited)

Leslie Denison

British Captain
(uncredited)

John Erickson

First Soldier
(uncredited)

Bud Geary

English Tank Commander
(uncredited)

Frederick Giermann

German Sergeant
(uncredited)

Clyde Jackman

Rommel's Orderly
(uncredited)

Ian Keith

Capt. St. Bride
(uncredited)

Miles Mander

Colonel Fitzhume
(uncredited)

Hans Moebus

Third Soldier
(uncredited)

Bill Mussetter

Schwegler Body Guard
(uncredited)

Director
- Billy Wilder
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
On the first day director Billy Wilder's hero Erich von Stroheim, arrived on set, Wilder ran to the wardrobe department to welcome him. He said, "This is a very big moment in my life . . . that I should now be directing the great Stroheim. Your problem, I guess, was that you were ten years ahead of your time." Von Stroheim replied, "Twenty."

Goofs
When John Bramble is introduced to the Germans as Paul Davos, a calendar is behind him on the wall. It is a 1942 calendar but shows Saturday, July 4th in red as a holiday...which of course is not a holiday in Egypt.

Quotes
Lt. Schwegler: [checking his guidebook entry about the hotel] You have a native cook by the name of Berek.
Farid: [nervous] Terek, sir. Terek. Yes, sir. But he ran away this morning. With the British to Alexandria.
Lt. Schwegler: [checking the guidebook] You have a wife.
Farid: Oh, yes, sir. Yes. But *she* run away. Yes, sir.
Lt. Schwegler: With the British to Alexandria?
Farid: [sadly] No, sir. With a Greek to Casablanca.

Connections
Featured in TCM Guest Programmer: Bill Hader (2010)

Soundtracks
Mattinata
Music by Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Sung repeatedly by Fortunio Bonanova

User reviews73

Featured review

8/10

A nice propaganda movie

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 !