"We shall take that big fat cigar out of Mr. Churchill's mouth and make him say Heil!"
Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) offers a unique propaganda film. He couches a pro-Allied message in a compact thriller that relies more on storytelling than speechmaking.Corporal John Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the sole survivor of a British tank crew. Bramble stumbles into a desert hotel owned by Farid (Akim Tamiroff) and Frenchwoman Mouche (Anne Baxter), which lies in the path of Erwin Rommel's (Erich Von Stroheim) Afrika Korps. Rommel and his staff arrive, plotting their offensive against Cairo. Bramble poses as a German agent, uncovering Rommel's war plans involving hidden arm caches.
Five Graves to Cairo opens with the arresting image of a derelict tank rattling through the desert. Wilder and Charles Brackett's script settles into a Hotel Imperial pastiche, with various self-interested parties converging on Farid's hotel. Rommel treats British prisoners chivalrously while spiting his Italian ally (Fortunato Bonanova). His humorless aide (Peter Van Eyck) fixates on Mouche, who seeks clemency for her brother, languishing in a POW camp. These rich characterization avoid the Kraut stereotypes expected from wartime propaganda.
Wilder makes effective use of the limited set, with John F. Seitz's gloomy photography heightening claustrophobia. There's an effective air raid/fight scene late in the movie, but mostly Wilder leans on tense dialog and ingenious plotting: the "five graves" provide a deliciously clever Macguffin. Wilder hones his message by having Bramble asking Mouche to place the Allies' "million brothers" ahead of her own. This leads to a harsh ending, with Bramble's success coming at a cost.
Franchot Tone makes a stiff lead, his expression rarely deviated from a befuddled rictus. He's bested by Anne Baxter, a haughty, pragmatic mademoiselle who takes Rommel's whip to her face without flinching. Erich Von Stroheim plays Rommel as an arrogant charmer, an evil twist on his Grand Illusion character. Peter Van Eyck plays Rommel's aide; Akim Tamiroff is uncharacteristically restrained. Only Fortunato Bonanova's opera-singing Italian skirts bad taste.
Five Graves to Cairo belongs in the upper tier of wartime war movies. Even high-end efforts like Hangmen Also Die! fall back on grotesque caricatures and stilted speechmaking. By focusing more on craft than jingoism, Wilder's film is far more palatable.
