Five Graves to Cairo (1943) review

Having survived a defeat by the Afrika Korps and delirious from the intense heat, British tank operator John Bramble (Franchot Tone) wanders into the Hotel Empress in Egypt where he meets nervous owner Farid (Akim Tamiroff) and chambermaid Mouche (Anne Baxter), pretends to be a physically disabled waiter (since the real one was killed) and soon finds the establishment swarming with German soldiers, including Lieutenant Schwegler (Peter van Eyck) and military genius Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Erich von Stroheim).  Even though the 'comedic' component to this - which is mostly reliant on boisterous Italian General Sebastiano (Fortunio Bonanova) behaving like a cliché - is rather dreadful (considering Wilder and co-screenwriter Charles Brackett's abilities) and Tone isn't that charismatic of a leading man (supposedly Cary Grant was approached to play Bramble), it's still a well-paced World War II adventure movie, with Baxter convincingly playing a French woman (with a secret agenda) and Austrian Jew Von Stroheim relishing the opportunity to portray the cunning Desert Fox (who doesn't trust women in the morning).  Never forget: it's always appropriate to punch a Nazi.