Details

Release year: 1944

Storyline

Five patriotic convicts are helped to escape imprisonment in Devil's Island so they can fight for occupied Free French forces against the Nazis.

Top credits

Directors

Michael Curtiz

Writers

Cast

Humphrey Bogart — Jean Matrac
Claude Rains — Capt. Freycinet
Michèle Morgan — Paula Matrac
Philip Dorn — Renault

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Did you know

• Warner Bros. built a full-scale Merchant Marine ship in three months, modeled after the French ship Ville de Nancy.

• During filming, Lauren Bacall was brought to the set in order to gauge her chemistry with Humphrey Bogart, with whom she would soon be co-starring in To Have and Have Not (1944). This was the famous duo's first meeting, though it would be months before their romance began.

• One of the few films to employ a flashback within a flashback within a flashback. This film is often seen as an attempt to recapture the magic of Casablanca (1942), in which many of this film's key players were a part. Some of the "usual suspects" include director Michael Curtiz, stars Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains, supporting and bit players Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Helmut Dantine, Corinna Mura, writer Casey Robinson, composer Max Steiner, producer Hal B. Wallis and executive producer Jack L. Warner. (Both films were made by Warner Bros.) Also, co-star Michèle Morgan was originally cast as Ilsa in "Casablanca", but her salary demand was too high, so Ingrid Bergman was cast instead.