FOXHOLE IN CAIRO 1960
This mid budget UK production is based on an actual event from World War Two. It is 1942 and Rommel's Afrika Korp is on the verge of capturing the British fortress of Tobruk. Rommel decides that it will then be on to Cairo and the Suez Canal. Rommel has famous Hungarian desert explorer, Laszlo Almasy, (Peter van Eyck) travel deep into the Sahara to deliver a pair of spies behind the British lines. The men are to gather intelligence on British troop movements and the like.
The two men, Adrian Holden and Neil McCullum are finally dropped off and make their way to Cairo. Holden is an Egyptian-German who was known around town before the war as a playboy type. McCullum is to pass as an American oilman type, as well as being in charge of the portable radio.
Holden fits right in again as if he had never been away for two years. He is soon hitting all the right clubs where the off duty headquarters staff tip a few. The German Intelligence Service (Abwehr) has supplied Holden with plenty of folding money. This he spreads around buying drinks etc.
Holden calls on a girl from his past, belly dancer Gloria Mestre, who works at a club popular with Allied officer types. The two take up again. As it so happens, Miss Mestre has a British officer, Robert Urquhart hot to trot for her. The man works at headquarters as a courier between there and the front-line commanders. Holden wants Miss Mestre to "pump" the man for any info she can.
While this is going on, British counter-intelligence officer, James Robertson Justice, is busy looking for possible spies. They have intercepted coded messages from Holden and McCullum but are unable to break the code. The signal is rather weak so the British figure the Germans must have a repeater station somewhere near the front lines. And right they are. The Germans have a hidden radio truck maned by two men, Michael Caine and Lee Montague. They forward the radio messages from Holden to Rommel's headquarters.
The British, led by Robertson Justice try several times to put the grab on the German spies. They triangulate their radio signals but the oily Germans always manage to slip away. Justice enlists the help of Niall MacGinnis and Fenella Fielding. The two are part of a Jewish group working undercover to help set up Israel after the war. They only work with the British because it is better than the other choice, the Germans. Justice wants them to look out for anything strange etc.
As luck would have it, Miss Fielding stumbles onto Holden's set up which is now on a house boat on the Nile. She lets Justice in on the location. Justice asks her to do something a tad dangerous, and board the houseboat for a look. Justice will be nearby with a squad of Military Police.
At the same time, the belly dancer, Mestre, has lured courier Urquhart for a visit. The man has been sent to the front with vital dispatches but stopped off for a "talk" before going. While Miss Mestre is entertaining Urquhart, Holden is pinching the papers from his briefcase to copy. He passes the copies to McCullum to radio to Rommel.
Now Miss Fielding is discovered and violence erupts. The idiot British officer is killed as is Miss Mestre. Justice and the MP's rush the place and soon have Holden and McCullum in cuffs. The British have also sent a Commando squad to raid and destroy the German radio truck in the desert. Rommel though has received the info from Urquhart's briefcase. Rommel now plans his upcoming offensive on Cairo.
The deal here is that the British had been giving the courier, Urquhart, false info. They had suspected that the man might be a tad too fond of the ladies. They wanted Rommel to get the fake info and launch his assault at the wrong place.
This is a not bad little war film that was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. Moxey, a b-film and television man in the UK in the19 50's and 60's later moved to the US. He became a popular director of television films with over 30 of the genre to his credit.
The story would be better told in 1985's television mini-series, THE KEY TO REBECCA. The mini-series, as well as Ken Follet's novel were based on the actual event told in this film.
It is always interesting to see Michael Caine in an early role.
This mid budget UK production is based on an actual event from World War Two. It is 1942 and Rommel's Afrika Korp is on the verge of capturing the British fortress of Tobruk. Rommel decides that it will then be on to Cairo and the Suez Canal. Rommel has famous Hungarian desert explorer, Laszlo Almasy, (Peter van Eyck) travel deep into the Sahara to deliver a pair of spies behind the British lines. The men are to gather intelligence on British troop movements and the like.
The two men, Adrian Holden and Neil McCullum are finally dropped off and make their way to Cairo. Holden is an Egyptian-German who was known around town before the war as a playboy type. McCullum is to pass as an American oilman type, as well as being in charge of the portable radio.
Holden fits right in again as if he had never been away for two years. He is soon hitting all the right clubs where the off duty headquarters staff tip a few. The German Intelligence Service (Abwehr) has supplied Holden with plenty of folding money. This he spreads around buying drinks etc.
Holden calls on a girl from his past, belly dancer Gloria Mestre, who works at a club popular with Allied officer types. The two take up again. As it so happens, Miss Mestre has a British officer, Robert Urquhart hot to trot for her. The man works at headquarters as a courier between there and the front-line commanders. Holden wants Miss Mestre to "pump" the man for any info she can.
While this is going on, British counter-intelligence officer, James Robertson Justice, is busy looking for possible spies. They have intercepted coded messages from Holden and McCullum but are unable to break the code. The signal is rather weak so the British figure the Germans must have a repeater station somewhere near the front lines. And right they are. The Germans have a hidden radio truck maned by two men, Michael Caine and Lee Montague. They forward the radio messages from Holden to Rommel's headquarters.
The British, led by Robertson Justice try several times to put the grab on the German spies. They triangulate their radio signals but the oily Germans always manage to slip away. Justice enlists the help of Niall MacGinnis and Fenella Fielding. The two are part of a Jewish group working undercover to help set up Israel after the war. They only work with the British because it is better than the other choice, the Germans. Justice wants them to look out for anything strange etc.
As luck would have it, Miss Fielding stumbles onto Holden's set up which is now on a house boat on the Nile. She lets Justice in on the location. Justice asks her to do something a tad dangerous, and board the houseboat for a look. Justice will be nearby with a squad of Military Police.
At the same time, the belly dancer, Mestre, has lured courier Urquhart for a visit. The man has been sent to the front with vital dispatches but stopped off for a "talk" before going. While Miss Mestre is entertaining Urquhart, Holden is pinching the papers from his briefcase to copy. He passes the copies to McCullum to radio to Rommel.
Now Miss Fielding is discovered and violence erupts. The idiot British officer is killed as is Miss Mestre. Justice and the MP's rush the place and soon have Holden and McCullum in cuffs. The British have also sent a Commando squad to raid and destroy the German radio truck in the desert. Rommel though has received the info from Urquhart's briefcase. Rommel now plans his upcoming offensive on Cairo.
The deal here is that the British had been giving the courier, Urquhart, false info. They had suspected that the man might be a tad too fond of the ladies. They wanted Rommel to get the fake info and launch his assault at the wrong place.
This is a not bad little war film that was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. Moxey, a b-film and television man in the UK in the19 50's and 60's later moved to the US. He became a popular director of television films with over 30 of the genre to his credit.
The story would be better told in 1985's television mini-series, THE KEY TO REBECCA. The mini-series, as well as Ken Follet's novel were based on the actual event told in this film.
It is always interesting to see Michael Caine in an early role.
