Passage to Marseille (1944)

Directed by

Michael Curtiz

Genre

drama film, war film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 49m

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 68 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During World War II, a French captain tells a journalist the story of five convicts who escape a prison colony to join the Free French forces. The film follows one man in particular, a newspaper publisher who was framed for murder. Their journey shows how they find purpose fighting against the Nazis.

earnestpatrioticmelodramaticgrittynostalgiclayeredtensepoignant

What happens

Passage to Marseille, also known as Message to Marseille, is a 1944 American war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel Sans Patrie (Men Without Country) by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by James Wong Howe. Passage to Marseille is one of the few films to use a flashback within a flashback, within a flashback, following the narrative structure of the novel on which it is based. The film opens at an airbase in England during World War II. Free French Captain Freycinet tells a journalist the story of the French pilots stationed there. The second flashback is at the French prison colony at Cayenne in French Guiana while the third flashback sets the scene where the lead character, Matrac, a newspaper publisher, is framed for a murder to silence him. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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