Plot Summary for
Passage to Marseille (1944) More at IMDbPro »

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. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

While visiting a Free French bomber squadron in England, a journalist learns from Captain Freycinet the story of some of the men. Just at the outset of World War II, 5 men were found floating in a raft by a passing freighter. The five of them had escaped from Devil's Island and Freycinet knows their individual stories well as he was on board the freighter, en route to Marseilles. Four of the men had committed crimes, some serious, some not so serious. One of them however, Jean Matrac, was falsely accused of murder, a political set-up for having criticized the French government. They managed to escape from their island prison with the help of an old man, a former prisoner who, like the escapees he's helped, a patriot at heart. The freighter receives word while still at sea that France has signed an armistice with the Nazis and the ship's captain changes course for England. Matrac desperately wants to get back the loving wife he's left behind but in war, nothing turns out as you would hope. Written by garykmcd

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