Five Graves to Cairo (1943) | |
| Director(s) | Billy Wilder |
| Producer(s) | Charles Brackett (associate) |
| Top Genres | Film Adaptation, Thriller/Suspense, War |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Spies, World War II |
Featured Cast:
Five Graves to Cairo Overview:
Five Graves to Cairo (1943) was a War - Thriller/Suspense Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Charles Brackett.
SYNOPSIS
The Sahara heats up as Allied spies try to outwit "Desert Fox" Rommel in this political thriller ably helmed by WIlder. Tone takes refuge in an oasis hotel run by Tamiroff just after the Afrika Korps rumbles through. He assumes a dead hotel waiter's identity, who also happens to have been a spy for Rommel. The intelligent Wilder-Brackett screenplay keeps things bouncing along with intense suspense and a dash of humor.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
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Academy Awards 1943 --- Ceremony Number 16 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegte; Interior Decoration: Bertram Granger | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | John Seitz | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Doane Harrison | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
Five Graves to Cairo (1943) and The Desert Fox
By 4 Star Film Fan on Nov 10, 2020 From 4 Star FilmsFor modern audiences especially, the movie’s opening crawl gives us a bit of helpful context. It’s June, 1942.? Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Corps was pounding the Brits back toward Cairo and the Suez Canal. His notoriety as a tactician and “The Desert Fox” is a... Read full article
Five Graves to Cairo
By Amanda Garrett on Apr 22, 2017 From Old Hollywood FilmsToday I'm reviewing the World War II thriller, Five Graves to Cairo (1943), starring Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, and Erich von Stroheim. This article is part of The Franchot Tone Blogathon hosted by Finding Franchot. Old Hollywood leading man Franchot Tone had one of his best roles in the World... Read full article
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
By Beatrice on Sep 19, 2014 From Flickers in TimeFive Graves to Cairo Directed by Billy Wilder Written by Billy Wilder and Charles?Brackett based on the Lajos Bir? play Hotel Imperial 1943/USA Paramount Pictures Repeat viewing/TCM DVD Billy Wilder’s second directorial effort has little of his characteristic humor or cynicism. ?It is, ho... Read full article
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Quotes from
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.
Field Marshal Rommel: [to the British officer-prisoners] I gave you 20 questions, gentlemen. That is question 21.
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Facts about
This film's closing epilogue states: "On July first, 1942, Rommel and his Afrika Korps reached El Alamein - - - as far east as they ever got. On September seventh 1942, a new-made lieutenant bought a parasol at a little ship in Cairo. On October twenty-fourth 1942, to the skirl of a bagpipe, General Montgomery's Eighth Army launched its counter-offensive. And so, on November the twelfth, 1942, the British came back to Sidi Halfaya."
This was the first of four movies that cinematographer John Seitz shot for director Billy Wilder.
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