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Director:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars:
Humphrey Bogart,
Ava Gardner,
Edmond O'Brien
When a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.
At Christmas, three prisoners, Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Sir Peter Ustinov) escape from Devil Island to a French small coastal town. They decide to rob a store, to get some money and clothes and travel by ship to another place. They pretend to be there to fix the roof, but pretty soon they realize that the financial condition of the family Ducotel is not good. André Trochard (Basil Rathbone), the selfish and mean owner of the establishment, exploits the Ducotel family. The three convicts spend Christmas night with the Ducotels and are so well treated by the family, that they decide to help them. Their pet will help them to fix the situation.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This was the second time Humphrey Bogart played an escaped convict from Devil's Island. The first was in Passage to Marseille (1944). See more »
Goofs
The movie supposedly plays ON Devil's Island (it's superimposed in the establishing shot at the very beginning) and Ducotel's general store is located in Cayenne (it's mentioned several times), the capital of French Guiana. However, Devil's Island exclusively was a penal colony with no civilian settlement, and Cayenne lies on the mainland coast, approximately 50 miles east of Kourou, the closest mainland town to Devil's Island. See more »
Quotes
Albert:
What if she knows his handwriting?
Joseph:
If you got a beautiful note like this, would you bother comparing signatures?
Albert:
No. It'd have to be signed by a girl, though.
See more »
3 convicts escape from a jail on Devils island during Christmas, they make plan to rob a local store, but befriend the shop keeper and his family.
Three great lead characters in Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov play the convicts. Bogart plays his character without flaw and surprising to see him in this humorous role, while young Ustinov and Ray also play great characters that assist the shop keep and his family during a difficult Christmas.
This movie wasn't what I was expecting especially after seeing 1989 movie with the same name staring De Niro and Penn, but I guess it was far better because i had a smile on my face throughout the whole movie. This certainly is a feel good sense to this movie.
With great lines in this movie, you'll be sniggering to yourself and cheering on the 3 misfits. One to watch when you need a smile.
21 of 26 people found this review helpful.
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3 convicts escape from a jail on Devils island during Christmas, they make plan to rob a local store, but befriend the shop keeper and his family.
Three great lead characters in Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov play the convicts. Bogart plays his character without flaw and surprising to see him in this humorous role, while young Ustinov and Ray also play great characters that assist the shop keep and his family during a difficult Christmas.
This movie wasn't what I was expecting especially after seeing 1989 movie with the same name staring De Niro and Penn, but I guess it was far better because i had a smile on my face throughout the whole movie. This certainly is a feel good sense to this movie.
With great lines in this movie, you'll be sniggering to yourself and cheering on the 3 misfits. One to watch when you need a smile.