Five Graves to Cairo

In 1942, as the British army retreats across North Africa under Erwin Rommel's advance, a lone survivor of a destroyed tank crew stumbles into a remote desert hotel. To avoid capture, the soldier, John Bramble, takes on the identity of a dead waiter at the establishment. The hotel's owner, Farid, shelters him despite the fears of Mouche, the French chambermaid. The situation grows more dangerous when Rommel himself arrives and turns the hotel into his headquarters. Bramble's position gives him the chance to spy on the German commander and consider assassination. The film is a wartime drama and thriller.

Billy Wilder directed Five Graves to Cairo, his first film as director in a career that would span 22 features, followed the next year by Double Indemnity. Wilder wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett. Franchot Tone plays Bramble and his assumed identity, with Anne Baxter as Mouche, Akim Tamiroff as Farid, and Erich von Stroheim as Rommel. Peter van Eyck and Fortunio Bonanova appear among the 25 credited cast members. Paramount released the film in May 1943, and it earned about 1 million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from roughly 7,600 votes, and on TMDB a 7 from about 157 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.8 from 17 reviews.