1943 - FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO, entertaining spy stuff

Billy Wilder and his partner Charles Brackett on their second feature zipped out this very entertaining spy film.  Brackett and Wilder loaded the story up with lots of clever scenes and plot situations.  The film also has that sly sense of humor that this team was known for particularly when it comes to sex.

Five Graves to Cairo has a very good cast with a standout performance from former director Erich von Stroheim as Field Marshall  Rommel.  Wilder was an admirer of von Strohem and you can sure tell, von Stroheim gets all the best lines.  Rommel spends his time in the film ordering up excerpts from the opera Aida or laying in bed swatting flies with a flyswatter, all very amusing stuff.

Five Graves to Cairo also has excellent black and white photography from John F. Seitz one of the masters of the profession.

96  minutes.