Passage to Marseille, also known asMessage to Marseille, is a 1944 Americanwar film made byWarner Brothers, directed byMichael Curtiz. Thescreenplay was byCasey Robinson andJack Moffitt from the novelSans Patrie (Men Without Country) byCharles Nordhoff andJames Norman Hall. The music score was byMax Steiner and the cinematography was byJames Wong Howe.
| Passage to Marseille | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Screenplay by | Casey Robinson Jack Moffitt |
| Based on | Sans Patrie (1942 novel) byCharles Nordhoff andJames Norman Hall |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart Michèle Morgan Claude Rains |
| Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
| Edited by | Owen Marks |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,332,000[1] |
| Box office | $3,786,000[1] |
Passage to Marseille is one of the few films to use aflashback 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 duringWorld 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 atCayenne inFrench Guiana while the third flashback sets the scene where the lead character, Matrac, a newspaper publisher, is framed for a murder to silence him.
Plot
editIn 1942, journalist Manning arrives at an English air base to learn about theFree French who are fighting the Germans. Along with Captain Freycinet, he watches as French bomber crews prepare for a raid. Manning's interest focuses on Jean Matrac, a gunner, and Freycinet describes Matrac's story:
Two years earlier, just before thedefeat of France by the Germans, five men are found adrift in a small canoe in theCaribbean Sea by thetramp steamerVille de Nancy. These five men — Marius, Garou, Petit, Renault, and their leader, Matrac — are rescued and taken aboard the French freighter commanded by Captain Malo. They initially claim to be French-Venezuelan miners returning home to fight for their motherland, but when confronted by Captain Freycinet, the five confess to being escaped convicts fromDevil's Island — the French prison colony atCayenne inFrench Guiana. They had been recruited by Grandpère, a fervently patriotic ex-convict, to fight for France in her hour of need. To Grandpére, the inmates had recounted Matrac's troubles inpre-war France to convince the old man to choose Matrac to lead the escape. A crusading newspaper publisher, Matrac, being opposed to theMunich Pact, had been framed for murder to shut him up.
By the time theVille de Nancy nears the port ofMarseille, France has surrendered toNazi Germany, and a collaborationistVichy government has been set up. Upon hearing the news, and after emotionally delivering it to his crew, Captain Malo secretly decides not to deliver his valuable cargo to the Germans and to instead divert to England. Pro-Vichy passenger Major Duval organizes an attempt to seize control of the ship, but is defeated, in great part due to the escapees. Another pro-Vichy traveler, Jourdain, manages to broadcast the ship’s coordinates to a Nazi bomber that subsequently attacks the ship; the escapees shoot down the bomber, at the cost of Marius’ life. When they reach England, the surviving convicts join the Free French bomber squadron.
As Freycinet finishes his tale, the squadron returns from its mission over France. Renault's bomber is delayed, as Matrac is allowed to drop a letter over his family's house in occupied France — thus maintaining ties with his wife Paula and a son he has never met — before returning from each mission. Renault's bomber finally lands. It has been badly shot up, and Matrac has been killed. At Matrac's interment, Freycinet reads aloud Matrac's last, undelivered, letter to his son—a vision of the day when evil will have been defeated forever—and promises that the letter will be delivered.
Cast
edit- Humphrey Bogart as Jean Matrac
- Claude Rains as Captain Freycinet
- Michèle Morgan as Paula Matrac
- Philip Dorn as Renault
- Sydney Greenstreet as Major Duval
- Peter Lorre as Marius
- George Tobias as Petit
- Helmut Dantine as Garou
- John Loder as Manning
- Victor Francen as Captain Patain Malo
- Vladimir Sokoloff as Grandpère
- Eduardo Ciannelli as Chief Engineer
- Corinna Mura as Singer
Uncredited Cast[2]
- Konstantin Shayne as 1st Mate
- Stephen Richards as Lt. Hastings
- Charles La Torre as Lt. Lenoir
- Hans Conried as Jourdain
- Monte Blue as 2nd Mate
- Billy Roy as Mess Boy
- Frederick Brunn as Bijou
- Louis Mercier as 2nd Engineer
Production
editPassage to Marseille reunited much of the cast ofCasablanca (1942), also directed by Curtiz, including Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Helmut Dantine. Other actors connected to both productions included Michèle Morgan, who had been the original choice for the female lead forCasablanca; Victor Francen, Philip Dorn,Corinna Mura, and George Tobias.
Although exotic locales were called for, principal photography by cinematographerJames Wong Howe actually took place at theLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden inArcadia, California, with additional location shooting inVictorville, California.
Before Bogart began work on the film, pre-production had been underway for six months, but as a result of resistingJack Warner's decision to cast him inConflict (released 1945, but shot in 1943), his starring role as Matrac was in jeopardy, withJean Gabin being touted as a replacement.[3] Even when the issue was decided, Bogart's portrayal was hampered by marital difficulties and a lack of commitment to the project.[4]
The flying sequences show theFree French Air Force (French:Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, FAFL) usingBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. The production took liberties with the actual bombing campaigns carried out by the Free French units, that primarily employed medium bombers such as theMartin B-26 Marauder. The use of the ubiquitous B-17 was due to its being recognizable to American audiences.[5]
A scene showing Bogart's character machine gunning the defenseless aircrew of the downed German bomber was cut by censors in foreign releases of the film.[6]
Reception and box-office
editBosley Crowther ofThe New York Times favorably reviewedPassage to Marseille, noting the film's "tough and tempestuous melodrama is something of a sequel, as it were, to the comment on Devil's Island which Warner was making five years ago. It is the studio's roaring rejoinder that a vicious and repressive penal code was still not sufficiently able to kill the love of home and freedom in French hearts."[7]
According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $2,157,000 domestically and $1,629,000 foreign.[1]
References
edit- ^abcWarner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 24 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
- ^McCarty, Clifford (1965).Bogey - The Films of Humphrey Bogart (1st ed.). New York, N.Y.: Cadillac Publishing Co., Inc. p. 116.
- ^Sperber and Law 1997, pp. 217–218.
- ^Sperber and Law 1997, p. 218.
- ^Hardwick and Schnepf 1983, p. 14.
- ^Mayers 1997, p. 156.
- ^Crowther, Bosley."Movie review: 'Passage to Marseille' (1944); The screen; 'Passage to Marseille,' a heavy action drama in which free Frenchmen figure, with Bogart, at the Hollywood."The New York Times, February 17, 1944. Retrieved: September 13, 2015. In the review Crowther is referring to the 1939Boris Karloff filmDevil's Island.
Bibliography
edit- Dolan, Edward F. Jr.Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985.ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Buff's Guide to Aviation Movies".Air Progress Aviation, Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 1983.
- Meyers, Jeffrey.Bogart: A Life in Hollywood. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 1997.ISBN 0-233-99144-1.
- Sperber, A.M. and Lax, Eric.Bogart. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1997.ISBN 0-688-07539-8.
External links
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