Five Graves to Cairo (1943)

Synopsis: Bill Wilder directs this war film, an adaptation of the work of Hungarian playwright Lajos Biro, starring Franchot Tone as British tank officer John J. Bramble. The only surviving member of a tank... Bill Wilder directs this war film, an adaptation of the work of Hungarian playwright Lajos Biro, starring Franchot Tone as British tank officer John J. Bramble. The only surviving member of a tank crew in North Africa during WWII, part of the Eighth Army, which has been routed by Rommel's celebrated Afrika Korps, he reaches the Empress of Britain Hotel in a small desert town delusional from heat exposure. Hotel owner Farid (Akim Tamiroff) hides him from the arriving Nazi troops, who accompany Rommel to his hotel. When he comes around, Farid disguises John as one of his waiters, now dead, who had been a Nazi spy. John hopes to kill the German general, but is dissuaded from doing so by a captured British officer, and instead learns the secret of the Afrika Korps success. During the 1930s, the Germans had hidden supplies, especially tank fuel, all across Egypt, in the event that war erupted. The five supply dumps are called "graves" by the Germans, and it becomes John's mission to locate them so that they can be destroyed. An excellent, suspenseful wartime melodrama, leavened with the typical Wilder wit as a bonus. Tone leads a superb supporting cast which also includes Peter Van Eyck, and Miles Mander. [More]

Starring: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich Von Stroheim

Starring: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich Von Stroheim, Peter Van Eyck, Fortunio Bonanova, Miles Mander

Director: Billy Wilder

Director: Billy Wilder
Screenwriter: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder
Producer: Charles Brackett
Composer: Miklos Rozsa

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