There's no denying that this film was designed to capitalize on the phenomenal success of Warner Bros earlier hit, Casablanca. Stars Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains return to work with director Michael Curtiz and composer Max Steiner, along with several other actors from Casablanca such as Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and even the singer Corinna Mura.

Unfortunately the story serves as little more than a propaganda piece for Free France, an admirable cause that sadly comes off as somewhat forced and artificial (imagine an entire movie set to the tone of the famous "La Marseillaise" scene in Casablanca and you'll get the idea). The script doesn't do anyone any favors, layering flashback upon flashback upon flashback until all narrative momentum is completely muddled and lost. Add in a random and underdeveloped love interest, along with one very tonally awkward scene of Bogart machine-gunning surrendered German pilots, and you have one very mediocre film.

American tribute to the Free French of WWII with a lot of the fantastic cast from Casablanca reunited. The telescoped flashbacks had one too many segments but a worthwhile picture overall.

This is an immensely strange movie. It seems like an attempt to reproduce some of the magic of "Casablanca" by reuniting Bogart, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet with director Michael Curtiz, but it's also an unbelievably earnest propaganda piece in a way that "Casablanca" was not. It's a very obvious attempt to induce Americans to empathize with the Free French. It's also an extremely strangely structured film. The plot involves flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks ... four deep at one point. If that isn't enough, part of the film is set on the French penal colony Devil's Island, and those sequences seem to have been a direct influence on the look and feel of "Papillon" 30 years later. The similarities are striking. Given all this, it's amazing how well this film works if you're willing to accept its bald earnestness. The cast is terrific and the plot exciting despite its weird structure.

There's no denying that this film was designed to capitalize on the phenomenal success of Warner Bros earlier hit, Casablanca. Stars Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains return to work with director Michael Curtiz and composer Max Steiner, along with several other actors from Casablanca such as Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and even the singer Corinna Mura.

Unfortunately the story serves as little more than a propaganda piece for Free France, an admirable cause that sadly comes off as somewhat forced and artificial (imagine an entire movie set to the tone of the famous "La Marseillaise" scene in Casablanca and you'll get the idea). The script doesn't do anyone any favors, layering flashback upon flashback upon flashback until all narrative momentum is completely muddled and lost. Add in a random and underdeveloped love interest, along with one very tonally awkward scene of Bogart machine-gunning surrendered German pilots, and you have one very mediocre film.