Passage to Marseille (1944)

Five patriotic convicts are helped to escape imprisonment in Devil's Island so they can fight for occupied Free French forces against the Nazis.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Casey Robinson (screenplay), Jack Moffitt (screenplay),

Stars:

Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Michèle Morgan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Humphrey Bogart	...	Jean Matrac
Claude Rains	...	Capt. Freycinet
Michèle Morgan	...	Paula Matrac (as Michele Morgan)
Philip Dorn	...	Renault
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Maj. Duval
Peter Lorre	...	Marius
George Tobias	...	Petit
Helmut Dantine	...	Garou
John Loder	...	Manning
Victor Francen	...	Capt. Patain Malo
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Grandpere
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Chief Engineer (as Edward Ciannelli)
Corinna Mura	...	Singer

Storyline

As French bomber crews prepare an air raid from a base in England, we learn the story of Matrac, a French journalist who opposed the Munich Pact. Framed for murder and sent to Devil's Island, he and four others escape. They are on a ship bound for Marseilles when France surrenders and fascist sympathizer Major Duval tries to seize the ship for Vichy.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | england | escape | devil's island | bomber | 

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Genres:

Drama | Adventure | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Spanish

Release Date:

11 March 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Passagem Para Marselha

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The plane shown attacking the freighter is an accurate model of a Focke-Wulf 200 (except for the fact that it was shown to have a bomb bay, which it didn't have), a bomber developed from a airliner.

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Goofs

When describing French Guiana to another escapee, the construction by inmates of Route Zero (the road to nowhere) in the jungle is shown with an escape attempt, where the escaping inmate is shot by a guard and left in the swamp. Immediately, an broad-snouted alligator is shown swimming toward the hapless victim who was just shot. However, there are no alligators in French Guiana, or anywhere else in South America for that matter. Alligators only exist in the southeast mainland coastal region of the USA and along the Yangtze River in China, and are easily distinguishable from crocodiles by their broad snout (whereas crocodiles have long narrow tapered snouts). The species more likely to be found in French Guiana was the caiman, a smaller relative of the American Crocodile.

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Quotes

Captain Freycinet: It's a fine day.
Renault: Any day that takes us closer to France is a fine day.

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Connections

Featured in Great Performances: Bacall on Bogart (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Someday I'll Meet You Again"
(1944) (uncredited)
Music by Max Steiner
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Sung by Corinna Mura at the nightclub
Sung also by an offscreen male voice
Played on piano by Michèle Morgan
Played often as part of the score

User Reviews

Compelling despite a weak structure

Passage to Marseille's flashback within a flashback format is of course structurally weak, but its characters and storytelling are compelling. Most interesting is the cynical disillusionment Bogart's character experiences after his opposition newspaper confronts the French government's Nazi appeasement. His newspaper is destroyed by pro-government mobs while fascist-leaning police look on. For his trouble Bogart is falsely convicted of murder and sent to a hell-on-earth prison colony in French Guyana. Formerly the staunchest of patriots, Bogart comes to feel that the France living in his heart has finally died.

Bogart and cohorts escape with the aid of a freed prisoner who selects and compels them with a promise to return to France and fight for its freedom. The third flashback finds them adrift in the Caribbean in their river canoe where they are rescued by a French freighter bound for Marseille. Things get complicated when some passengers and crew members led by a utilitarian French Army officer played by Sydney Greenstreet attempt to seize control of the ship. The ship's captain and Claude Rains' character had plotted a course to England in defiance of their now Nazi-controlled government's orders.

As the free French loyalists retake control of the ship, a traitorous radio operator broadcasts their position which is picked up by a patrolling Nazi bomber. The prisoners' true convictions (no pun intended) are demonstrated both in retaking the ship and in fighting off the plane's attack. In leading the ship's defense, Bogart's true feelings are realized and his choice is made to once again fight for his country, this time with bombs and bullets instead of ink and paper.