Zip.ca - Passage to Marseilles

PARCOUREZ DES DVDS

Classements de Zip.ca

Disponible sur :

Acteurs :

Réalisé par :

Passage to Marseilles

Humphrey Bogart reunites with director Michael Curtiz and other key Casablanca personnel (including co-stars Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet) for a tension-swept Passage to Marseilles. Bogart plays Jean Matrac, a World War II French patriot who escapes Devil's Island, survives a dangerous freighter voyage and becomes a gunner in the Free French Air Corps.

Passage sailed into theatres on stormy seas. Controversy surrounded the scene in which Matrac machine-guns the helpless survivors of a downed plane that attacked the freighter. That a soldier of freedom would act ignobly brought protests from religious and censorship groups. But, like Matrac facing a strafing dive-bomber, the studio held its ground. War could even dehumanize a hero. Domestic prints remained uncut.

Critiques des membres

Worth watching - Fan4action

Patriotism and bravery

An excellent story of dedication, patriots, and the individual battling the huge bureaucracy. Real people thrown around by war and politics. This story is told slowly, carefully in a style seldom seen today. Hear a view of the war from several countries and see varying attitudes among countrymen.

This Isn't Casablanca....or really even close - Gregg

One of several attempts to recapture the magic of Casablanca, Passage to Marseille brings back a number of the principals but fails to live up to its potential.

We begin with a journalist's visit to a Free French air base in Britain during the Second World War from which we flash back to story of Matrac (Humphrey Bogart) a gunner on one of the bombers about leave on a mission and how he came to be there. The French officer being interviewed by the journalist is played by Claude Rains and the flashback introduces both Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Also returning from Casablanca is the somewhat overlooked but remarkably successful director Michael Curtiz.

The biggest deficiency appears to be the story. The flashback within a flashback structure may not be entirely to blame but the fact we know the outcome to most of the important questions before hand definitely dilutes the tension of the picture. The characters lack sufficient or appropriate motivation in several cases and others do not seem to earn the redemption it appears we are meant to feel for them, Bogart’s character gets better treatment but the setup for his background is rather perfunctory.

In terms of strengths it is certainly enjoyable to see such performers as Bogart, Rains, Greenstreet and Lorre, even if their talents are not adequately used and the roles are lacking. Also not surprisingly the visuals are impressive thanks likely both to cinematographer James Wong Howe and director Michael Curtiz.

The viewpoints of the characters are also interesting in that this film was made during the war, not surprisingly we get a rather uncompromising view of collaborators but we also get a fairly frank depiction of the brutalities of war on behalf of the allies.

This serves as good illustration about how remarkable a film like Casablanca was, with many of the same principals and a story with a number of parallels we get an entirely different result.

Critiques des membres Lire tous...

Worth watching - Fan4action

This Isn't Casablanca....or really even close - Gregg

COMMENCEZ VOTRE ESSAI

GRATUIT D'UN MOIS!

Ou, réactivez votre abonnement déjà existant.

Courriel *
Ré-entrez votre courriel *
Entrez votre mot de passe *
Ré-entrez votre mot de passe *
Code promotionnel

Vous êtes ici : Accueil > Parcourez des DVDs > Passage to Marseilles

Passage to Marseilles

Disponible sur :

COMMENCEZ VOTRE ESSAI

GRATUIT D'UN MOIS!

Ou, réactivez votre abonnement déjà existant.