One Good Movie - War Propaganda

Hey friend,

Our movie is by one of the all-timers, Billy Wilder.

You may have seen his classics. But this week's movie is perhaps lesser-known because his follow-up is the Swiss-clock perfect Double Indemnity.  

Wilder was a Jew born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He worked as a screenwriter and produced films in Berlin until 1933 when he fled to Hollywood.

Cinema is rich with war and military propaganda. What makes this week's film novel, is that it serves as rich entertainment and propaganda. 

Five Graves to Cairo

Made at the beginning of 1943, in the midst of World War II, the film is a spy thriller centered in one location. 

It has two despicable villains. 

Peter van Eyck as Lieutenant Schwegler, a German-born actor lending a layer of authenticity as a Nazi. And Erich von Stroheim as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Von Stroheim was the embodiment of the director as a dictator. He was an early auteur and key figure of silent movies. When his dedication to his art proved too much for the suits, he turned to character acting. Here he devours the scenery. 

I also love Anne Baxter's turn as Mouche. She plays the pragmatic French maid, willing to sacrifice anything for what she values. 

96 minutes.

As relevant today as it was in 1943. 

-Guy

Epilogue

I travel to Hungary on Sunday. There's a Columbo statue in Budapest for questionable reasons.

I once saw Peter Falk at one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, Crustacean. He looked as disheveled as you could wish and his date was a stunner. He definitely wasn't out with Mrs. Columbo. 

Spike Jonze

In last year's Babylon, director Spike Jonze plays a silent movie director named Otto von Strassberger, inspired by Von Stroheim. So a director, turned character actor, played by a director, turned character actor.

It's almost too precious, but Jonze is funny.