Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 30, 2020

Billy Wilder "Five Graves to Cairo" (1943) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film and new audio commentary by film historian Joseph McBride. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The biggest weakness of Billy Wilder’s Five Graves to Cairo is its inability to be even remotely objective. Obviously, the film was meant to function as a propaganda piece, but its characterizations are so ridiculous that the crucial contrasts that are supposed to shape up its message instantly become incredibly ineffective.

Consider Erich von Stroheim’s transformation as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Do you believe that the pompous fool that enters the old hotel in the desert could have won the Battle of Gazala? And can you see him as one of Adolf Hitler’s greatest military strategists? Of course not. Stroheim’a character is an awful caricature that is quite simply incompatible with the message of the film.

Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett’s original script, however, does not just ignore this glaring issue. It actually intentionally elevates Stroheim’s fictional character above the rest of the characters in the film and then demands that they openly admire his intellect. Needless to say, the drama that is supposed to flourish as a result of this demand is incredibly problematic. Franchot Tone’s impersonator, for instance, visibly struggles whenever he is around his nemesis because his mission -- copying the maps that can determine the outcome of the war in North Africa and transferring them to the British -- seems like a childish game with a predetermined finale. The script wants him to be fearful of the general and feverishly guessing his brilliant strategy to outmaneuver the British, but the closer he gets to him, the clearer it becomes that he is just an aging man who has to hide a number of laughable insecurities. It is an awful situation to be trapped in, and it is impossible to emerge from it looking credible.

To be a true Wilder film Five Graves to Cairo of course needs a lot of humor, which the script willingly delivers. The humor unquestionably hurts the drama, but as odd as it may sound it is actually what makes the film partially tolerable. Akim Tamiroff, the true star of the film, plays the desert hotel’s owner and brings in the type of energy his best work is remembered for. He is like a giant teddy bear that has accidentally landed in the film and out of respect for its creator decided to stay and do the best he can to make it look attractive. But much like Tone’s character he is completely and irreversibly compromised. Whenever he steps before the camera, he looks disappointingly disoriented, a stranger amongst strangers who have to pretend to be historic figures that never existed.

The final forty or so minutes are so awful that from time to time it feels like Wilder simply wrapped up different situations as best as he could and then rushed to the glorious finale. A ridiculous Italian general named Sebastiano (Fortunio Bonanova) is repeatedly seen embarrassing himself as a passionate singer, while his German partner Lt. Schwegler (Peter van Eyck) nearly loses his mind in the company of the emotionally available maid Mouche (Anne Baxter). A bunch of high-ranking British officers also stop by for a round of drinks with the man who has supposedly outsmarted them in the desert.

A bombastic score by Miklos Rozsa is used to give the film a powerful dramatic identity, but the only lasting impression it leaves is that it is entirely inappropriate.

*In 1944, the Academy recognized Five Graves to Cairo with Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography (John F. Seitz), Best Film Editing (Doane Harrison), and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration (Bertram C. Granger, Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegte).

Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Five Graves to Cairo arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

This release is sourced from an exclusive new 4K master. (The Region-B release from Eureka Entertainment that we reviewed here is sourced from an older master). It offers a superior presentation of the film, but before I address it I would like to make something very clear. The 4K master isn't a byproduct of a conventional 4K restoration. What does this mean? It means that it was produced after a 4K scan was completed, but it retains some imperfections that would have been addressed during a conventional restoration.

So, on this release delineation, clarity, and especially depth are quite a bit better. In certain areas the difference is so big that there are entire ranges of better background nuances that provide the film with a much more pleasing organic appearance. The grading job is very nice and convincing. However, in some darker/indoor footage the blacks can become a tad too strong and flatten existing detail (if you closely examine screencapture #5 you will get a pretty good idea what to expect). There are no traces of problematic digital adjustments. Also, on this release the grain is noticeably better exposed and more evenly resolved. Image stability is good, but there is room for various minor improvements. Now, because of the nature of the surviving materials there are fluctuations that affect everything from density levels to highlights and even the dynamic range of some visuals, so the visuals still have a somewhat dated appearance. Some specks and tiny blemishes can be spotted, but there are no large and distracting damage marks or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I think that at times the music sounds marginally crisper than it does on the Region-B release, but the audio retains numerous inherited limitations, so do not expect a drastic difference in terms of overall quality. I would not be able to separate the two audio tracks in a blind test. The dialog is clear and easy to follow.

Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, film historian Joseph McBride, who apparently knew Billy Wilder well, discusses the exact period in which Five Graves to Cairo was conceived, the unusual tone of the film, Erich von Stroheim's performance and his relationship with the director, some ongoing trends in Hollywood during the WW2, etc.

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Five Graves to Cairo. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following titles from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. A Foreign Affair
  2. Witness for the Prosecution
  3. One, Two, Three
  4. Irma la Douce
  5. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
  6. Avanti!
  7. The Front Page

Five Graves to Cairo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Billy Wilder knew and understood who Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was he either could not communicate his knowledge to Erich von Stroheim or failed miserably while crafting his persona in the original screenplay for Five Graves to Cairo. Yes, his film was meant to be a propaganda piece so it is not shocking to see that it struggles to be objective, but the original material is so poorly handled and its presentation so blatantly unrealistic that the end product is actually one big and unbearably dull farce. The great Akim Tamiroff has a few memorable scenes, but they are not enough to save the film. It is a massive, quite embarrassing misfire. If you disagree and would like to own a copy of it, this release from Kino Lorber is the one you want to have in your collection. It is sourced from a good exclusive new 4K master.