Winston Churchill has called 1942 "Their Finest Hour." The film opens at Rommel's HQ in April of 1942. The Afrika Corps is near the peak of its conquests. Rommel has conquered Tobruk only to lose it. He wants it back. An espionage team is formed to flank British lines to the south through the deep desert, cutting east toward the Nile and then north to Cairo & British HQ. An espionage team of five vehicles is formed. Erratum: It contains a 1949/50 Ford Station Wagon. Oh well. A team of two spies makes it into Cairo, and begins making coded radio transmissions of intelligence to Afrika Corps HQ. Implicitly, this intelligence aided Rommel in retaking Tobruk in late June 1942. Then the plot thickens, of course. There is a "Mata Hari" in this film (certainly not Lt. Morrison). There is a special role for the ever-charming Elisabeth Müller as a British staff officer (Lt. Kay Morrison) in Cairo. The chief spy is a dashing Capt. Eppler (played by Adrian Hoven). Both women are attracted, one attached and one moderately interested. The moderately interested Lt. Morrison could be accused of fraternizing with the enemy, but is cleared. I found the golf scene (at a Cairo country club) vaguely humorous. This film is generally well done, entertaining, and not a combat film. The end is historically predictable, of course. The title could be translated "Rommel Telegraphs Cairo." The German word "ruft" refers, in this case, to the transmission of Morse Code messages back and fourth.
