''Rommel Calls Cairo'' (german: Rommel ruft Kairo) is a 1959 West German

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Wolfgang Schleif and starring

Adrian Hoven Adrian Hoven (18 May 1922 – 28 April 1981) was an Austrian actor, producer and film director. He appeared in 100 films between 1947 and 1981. He was born in Wöllersdorf, Austria as ''Wilhelm Arpad Hofkirchner'' and died in Tegernsee, Ger ...

, Elisabeth Müller and Peter van Eyck.Davidson & Hake p. 54 It is based on a real incident from the North African Campaign during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Ludwig Reiber Ludwig Reiber (1904–1979) was a German art director.Capua p.159 The veteran Reiber worked on film and television set design from the silent era to the early 1970s. He was employed by the Munich-based Bavaria Film at the Emelka Studios. He worke ...

and

Hans Strobel Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

. It was shot on location in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

. Van Eyck reprised his role as

László Almásy László Ede Almásy de Zsadány et Törökszentmiklós ( hu, Almásy László Ede; ; 22 August/3 November 1895 – 22 March 1951) was a Hungarian aristocrat, motorist, desert explorer, aviator, Scout-leader and sportsman who served as th ...

in the British film ''

Foxhole in Cairo ''Foxhole in Cairo'' is a 1960 British war film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and based on a novel by Leonard Mosley itself based upon the real-life Operation Salaam. It starred James Robertson Justice, Adrian Hoven, Fenella Fielding and Henry ...

'', which was released the following year.

Cast

as Capt. Johannes Eppler, alias Hussein Gafaar * Elisabeth Müller as Lt. Kay Morrison * Peter van Eyck as Capt. Graf von Almassy * Paul Klinger as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel *

Leila Iman Leila may refer to: *Leila (name), a female given name, including a list of people with the name and its variants Film and television * ''Leila'' (1997 film), an Iranian film * ''Leïla'' (2001 film), a Danish film * ''Leila'' (TV series), a ...

as Amina *

Herbert Tiede Herbert Tiede (3 March 1915 – 12 January 1987) was a German actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1943 to 1975. Filmography References External links * 1915 births 1987 deaths German male film actors {{Ger ...

as Col. Robertson *

Ernst Reinhold Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975 ...

as Sandy *

Wolf Ackva Wolf Ackva (30 July 1911 – 16 January 2000) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 70 films and television shows between 1935 and 1996. Selected filmography References External links

* 1911 births 2000 deaths People from ...

as Maj. Smith *

Til Kiwe Jan Heinrich Tilman Kiwe (born Eduard Heinrich Kiefer),knerger.de/ref> also known as ''Til Kiver'' or ''Till Kiwe'', (b. 7 June 1910 in Aachen; d. 30 November 1995 in Munich) was a German actor, voice actor and screenwriter. He famously played Fric ...

as Amis * Saliman as Achmed *

Albert Hehn Albert Hehn (17 December 1908 – 29 July 1983) was a German actor. Hehn appeared in a large number of films between 1938 and 1970. One of his most notable roles was in the 1941 war film '' Stukas''.Welch p.279 He was married to the actress Jeanet ...

as Lüdinghausen * Horst Uhse as Schmitz *

Siegfried Dornbusch Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid ...

as Schulze * Gustl Weishappel as Gruber * Manfred Andrae as Oberfeldwebel *

Werner Stock Werner Bruno Wilhelm Hermann Stock (20 October 1903 – 30 April 1972) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows between 1932 and 1971. Selected filmography * ''Spoiling the Game'' (1932) * ''Decoy'' (1934 ...

as Abele * Heinz Lausch * Lili Schoenborn-Anspach * Panos Papadopulos as Sharani * Karin Hauck as Leila *

Heinz Simon The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contine ...

as Bachmann

References

Bibliography

* Davidson, John & Hake, Sabine. ''Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany''. Berghahn Books, 2007.

External links

* 1959 films 1959 war films German war films West German films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Wolfgang Schleif North African campaign films World War II spy films German multilingual films 1950s multilingual films 1950s German films {{1950s-Germany-film-stub