FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO: Blu-ray (Paramount, 1943) Kino Lorber

 It’s very easy to imagine Erich von Stroheim as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the irascible von Stroheim, having attained almost cult status today as one of the legendary directors of the silent era, and, to have thus submarined his own career in costly over-indulgences that not only put off his bosses, but increasingly failed to make back money for the studios. This, coupled with von Stroheim’s caustic fastidiousness, by the early 1940’s, had left his reputation in the industry mostly in tatters, relegated as an actor for other directors whose artistic prowess he neither valued nor respected. It kept von Stroheim in the public spotlight, however, if, with ever-diminishing returns on his fame. But von Stroheim is used to particularly excellent effect in Billy Wilder’s Five Graves to Cairo (1943) – a picture to star, not von Stroheim, but alas, MGM’s Franchot Tone, whose initial splash in Metro’s Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and marriage to one of the studio’s reigning screen queens, Joan Crawford that same year, suggested Tone was bound for better days ahead. Too bad by 1943, Tone’s open marriage to Crawford was already a distant memory (the couple divorced in 1939), and his popularity in pictures on the wane.  Though Tone had other substantial roles ahead of him, he seemed to tire of his movie career, marking a return to Broadway in 1940’s The Fifth Column. But MGM held tight to Tone’s contract, and thus, he continued to work for them.

Billy Wilder was most enthusiastic to hire Cary Grant to star in Five Graves to Cairo. And although Wilder and Grant shared warmed relations for the duration of their careers, Grant never appeared in a Wilder picture, despite being asked several times by the director to partake. Presumably, on this refusal, Grant was put off by the prospect of toiling in the stifling Arizona desert heat for the location work. And so, the project fell to Tone, who did his best, but then did his utmost to break from the ironclad bonds as a studio contract player, aiming to become a freelancer instead. It’s difficult to warm to Tone, either as the dashing American Cpl. John J. Bramble, or Paul Davos, the disguise he assumes as a club-footed waiter in a small Egyptian hotel, plotting an assassination coup against Germany’s desert fox.  Tone is just too ‘high tone’ for either role – his well-to-do ‘blue blood’ pedigree impeding his ability to convince us he could be just an ‘Average Joe’ on an extraordinary date with destiny. The third cog in this great wheel is Anne Baxter (in a role originally envisioned for Ingrid Bergman and tested for by Simone Simon) as the careworn and embittered French maid, ‘Mouche’ – a word of various meanings Baxter’s belle aspires to assimilate. Like a fly, she remains an ever-annoyance to Bramble, threatening his exposure to the Nazis, her barbs hitting the bullseye more than once and stinging like a bee. Most relevant of all, she becomes a spy in search of subversive measures to undermine the Nazi high command and mark her own vengeance upon the world.

But perhaps the most sublime performance herein belongs to the irrepressible Akim Tamiroff, as hotel proprietor, Farid. In a career spanning 37-years and more than 80 movies, Tamiroff instantly distinguished himself, always appearing in memorable support of other stars, while nevertheless as immediately identifiable and beloved as these legends of Hollywood. Born in Tiflis (nee, Baku) of Armenian ancestry, Tamiroff’s greatest selling feature was, arguably, his non-descript thick accent, deftly to convince us when playing every nationality imaginable in pictures; from a Russian expat (Anastasia,1956) to a malevolent Mexican crime boss (Touch of Evil, 1958). From the outset, Tamiroff was much sought after in Hollywood, capable of displaying either an oily menace or quaintly nervous charm. This made him a true chameleon of his profession and one of the outstanding ‘character’ actors of his generation. Tamiroff’s performance in Five Graves to Cairo is, arguably, the high point of the show. Whether indulging in a bit of trademarked bumbling as he narrowly manages to conceal Bramble from Rommel, or, as the sad-eyed sage, who reveals to this returning hero how Mouche has since met with a terrible fate, Tamiroff’s performance is flawless and true – an exuberant stand-out in a sea of top-flight heavy hitters giving it their all.  

Five Graves to Cairo is one of many movie adaptations based on Lajos Bíró's 1917 play, Hotel Imperial: Színmű négy felvonásban, made under its own title as a popular silent feature in 1927. If Wilder had little concern or difficulty with Tone as his star, he was to encounter something of von Stroheim’s dictatorial pomposity, the actor insisting on ‘improving’ his characterization of Rommel, down to permission granted to revamp his military uniform, hair and make-up.  Pouring over photographs of Rommel, von Stroheim ordered authentic props from Paramount – German field glasses, a whisk and a Leica camera with actual film. Even as, in real life, Rommel was known to dress more casually, von Stroheim’s depiction of the desert fox herein as chronically in character, somehow seems to fit - as pure propaganda.  As everything in the picture now appears from the vantage of possessing a ‘vintage’ quality, one tends to forget when Five Graves to Cairo went into production, the war was very much prescient on everyone’s mind and the military campaign in North Africa was not a historical event, but rather a current one. Wilder grants von Stroheim an impressive debut, shooting him in close-up from the back of his meaty neck as he addresses his cohort of loyalists, Wilder later explaining, “Standing with his stiff fat neck in the foreground he could express more than almost any actor with his face.” Indeed, Wilder had much looked forward to the hour of working with von Stroheim, charging into wardrobe on the actor’s first day’s prep and declaring it ‘a very big moment in my life’. Unmoved by the compliment, Wilder proceeded to offer, “Your problem, I guess, was that you were ten years ahead of your time,” to which Von Stroheim coolly replied, “Twenty!”

The title, Five Graves to Cairo is a bit of a misnomer as it figures prominently in Bramble’s decoding of the Nazi’s plans for invasion, charting their course between the 5-letters spelling ‘Egypt’ on the map. In reality, the Germans would not have used a map printed in English, and, as the German word for Egypt is ‘Ägypten’ – 7 letters long – the decoding of their secret ammunitions ought to have titled the movie, Seven Graves to Cairo, which, undoubtedly, would have baffled English-speaking audiences. The screenplay, co-authored by Wilder and long-time collaborator, Charles Brackett also takes an artistic liberty in its depiction of Sidi Halfaya – a fictional town, subbing for the real Sidi Barani, already held by Rommel’s Afrika Korps in 1941, but retaken by the British the following year. Determined, otherwise, to lend an air of authenticity to the occasion, Wilder and his cinematographer, John F. Seitz, poured over B&W photographs, instructing art directors, Hans Dreier and Ernst Fegté to remain faithful in their production design.  That level of authenticity extended to incorporating actual WWII footage of the Battle of El Alamein into this movie; also, with exception to von Stroheim’s Rommel, casting real Germans to play the parts of the remaining Nazis, and, finally, hiring British Army Maj. David P.J. Lloyd as a technical adviser, owing to his first-hand experience in desert tank warfare.

Our story begins with an ominous preamble – a British tank, seemingly moving under its own power, the gears wedged into place by one of its dead crew, and Corporal Bramble, unconscious and thrown from its open hatch into the searing desert sands. Awakening to the pall of the sun, Bramble trudges through the stifling heat, barely aware of his path until he manages to stumble into Sidi Halfaya, a crumbling outpost, decimated by the war. The only building left half-standing is the Empress of Britain Hotel. Dragging himself into the lobby, Bramble promptly falls in a dead faint and is tended to by Farid while his bitter and unhelpful French chambermaid, Mouche, callously looks on. At present, the town is being invaded yet again by Erwin Rommel’s forces. Rommel’s arrival is preceded by that of Lieutenant Schwegler (Peter van Eyck) and a small entourage who commandeer the hotel on his behalf, setting up their base of operations. Stirred to life by Farid’s kind hand and given asylum in the upstairs cramped ‘staff’ quarters, Bramble assumes the identity of the hotel’s waiter, Davos, killed in a bombing raid the night before, and, as yet, quite unaware the real Davos was a spy working for the Nazis, whom Rommel now believes he can further exploit by assigning him a new post in Cairo.  

Stealing a pistol from genial, opera-loving Italian General Sebastiano (Fortunio Bonanova), Bramble plots to assassinate Rommel the next morning. Instead, Mouche manages to steal back the gun and waits on Rommel at breakfast, much to his displeasure. Regrettably, when some British POW’s are brought into the hotel for a luncheon with Rommel, British Capt. St. Bride (Ian Keith) realizes Bramble is not Davos. Secretly, Bramble confides in St. Bride his plot to murder Rommel, instructed instead to maintain his position of trust in order to syphon off the enemy’s military intelligence. Bramble eventually deduces Rommel, previously disguised as an archeologist, had prepared five supply dumps (a.k.a. the five graves) for the conquest of Egypt. Bramble later realizes Rommel’s cryptic references to points Y, P, and T represent the precise locations on the map where the letters spell ‘Egypt’.  Alas, Bramble and Mouche are at odds. She blames the British for abandoning the French at Dunkirk.  At first, Bramble is disgusted by her seeming loyalty to the Nazis. He soon realizes she is working the enemy to a purpose; namely, for Rommel to free her brother, presently a wounded soldier lying on his death bed in one of Germany’s concentration camp.  Rommel is undisturbed by her pleas. But Schwegler, attracted to Mouche, and hoping for a reciprocation of such affections, lies to her, providing fake telegrams to suggest her brother will be freed.

Rather problematically, Schwegler discovers Davos body buried in the rubble during an air raid. Hunting down Bramble in the blackness of night, Schwegler is killed by Bramble, who then conceals his body in Mouche’s part of the servant’s quarters. Devastated, as she still believes Schwegler was her brother’s last hope, Mouche threatens to expose Bramble. Her change of heart also seals her fate as Schwegler’s remains are soon discovered and Rommel accuses Mouche of being the spy who murdered him after she learned he was lying to her about her brother’s release. Realizing what a fool she has been, Mouche confesses to the crime to conceal Bramble’s true identity. Bramble departs for Cairo, but plants clues, ordering Farid to reveal to all, after he is gone, how ‘Davos’ committed the crime. Bramble’s intel allows the British to destroy Rommel’s dump sites and thwarts Rommel’s future attack plans. As the Nazis retreat, Bramble returns to Sidi Halfaya in triumph, only to be informed by Farid, Rommel had Mouche executed anyway. A devastated Bramble takes the parasol he bought for Mouche in Cairo, something she earlier confided to always wanting, and uses it to provide shade for her grave, just one of the nameless, buried alongside other casualties on a site beyond the town.

Five Graves to Cairo’s last act is a sober finale, one in which Franchot Tone distinguishes himself as a fine actor. Until this moment, however, he seems more often than not, to simply be going through the motions of the Wilder/Brackett plot, his performance more affected than affecting. What the movie might have been had Cary Grant accepted the title role, we will never know. But the chemistry between Tone and Anne Baxter – even at its antagonistic best – just seems off. From Bramble’s gesture in purchasing the parasol we are meant to infer he and Mouche have developed beyond their mutual acrimony to a point where each might have found their little patch of – if not ‘happiness’ – then, mutual contentment, leading to…  Alas, nothing beyond their brief exchanges of dialogue here convince us of as much; Tone, as wooden and apart in his scenes with Baxter, whose French accent slips back and forth, from merely acceptable to downright laughable. Interesting too, to consider whether or not Wilder, known for his uber-wit and biting irony, was pulling a pun by naming Baxter’s supple miss ‘Mouche’ as ‘Muschi’ in German – indistinguishably pronounced - is slang for female genitalia. As Billy Wilder was refused his first choice of composer, Franz Waxman (whose ironclad contract at Warner Bros. precluded his involvement on a Paramount Picture), Wilder was successful in getting Miklós Rózsa instead, much to the chagrin of Paramount’s Music Department boss, Victor Young, who remained unimpressed by that decision. Although the picture was highly successful at the time of its release, it is considered one of Wilder’s ‘lesser’ works today. Indeed, only a handful of years later, co-writer, Charles Brackett suggested Five Graves to Cairo made him cringe as a horrible piece of wartime propaganda.

Five Graves to Cairo arrives on Blu-ray via Kino Lorber’s alliance with Universal Home Video, the current custodians of all of Paramount’s pre-fifties back catalog. In one of those obscene instances of shortsightedness that never fails to appall, Paramount sold off over 700 titles to MCA/Universal in 1958 for TV distribution. The deal was arguably in Uni’s favor, though ever since, lovers of the great Paramount catalog have had to contend with the new custodian’s short shrift in properly maintaining and/or archiving this vast storehouse of goodies for future generations. Mercifully, Five Graves to Cairo seems to have been given some worthy consideration in the interim. This B&W image hails from a new 4K scan derived from best surviving elements and the results, while not perfect, are very impressive. Much of the image offers up razor-sharp clarity with excellent contrast, exceptional tonality, and, a light smattering of film grain, appearing indigenous to its source. Intermittently, the image toggles into a soft, nondescript darkness in which fine details are sacrificed. This, however, is the result of pre-existing dupes, and not the video mastering efforts put forth herein. Uni has done its due diligence here. The 1.0 DTS audio, likewise, is wonderfully nuanced, clean and free of age-related hiss and pop. We get an audio commentary by Joseph McBride that is comprehensive and delves into, not only the movie’s production, but historical timeline of world events, contributing to its incubation and overall popularity. The only other extra here are theatrical trailers for this and other product Kino is peddling for Universal. Bottom line: Five Graves to Cairo is a passable war-time picture. Its valor is of a subtler ilk, and, Wilder’s direction, wed to a great performance by Akim Tamiroff, lends it an intangible quality worth seeing. The Blu-ray is better than anticipated – given Uni’s shoddy track record with their Paramount holdings. Recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

1