Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: British soldier, finding himself trapped between the advancing Germans and the retreating British, hides out in a hotel during a critical part of the North African campaign in World War II.
Biased, pithy comments: I noticed on the box for this one that it's ``Digitally recorded.'' Thank goodness they're working to restore these old classics. OK, they're not perfect movies, but some of these one-month cheapies made during wartime are some of the neatest movies. This one starts with a single tank rolling across the desert, and from there neatly traps our hero in a web of lies, tenuous alliances, and, of course, nasty Nazis. Wilder, basing this film on a previous film (and that on a play by Lajos Biro), has a granite foundation on which to layer solid performances by Tone, Baster, and Bonanova, with good work by von Stroheim as Rommel. Intrigue, danger, sacrifice, and not a little sex appeal in Baxter's ``Mouche''---as wartime movies go, once you've done ``Casablanca'' and ``To Have and Have Not,'' you should move on to this one. Of course, there's a heavy dose of propaganda (gee, is Mouche symbolic of how the French are really our allies in a bad spot?), but it was 1943 and winning World War II was really important. Really, really important.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Amiroff
Directed by: Billy Wilder