Passage To Marseille (1944) ***

Passage To Marseille (1944) is a solid little flick but considering it reteamed the director, four of the stars, and the composer of Casablanca (1942) it's not in the same playing field at all. While Marseille is technically brilliant (thanks in large part to James Wong Howe's striking cinematography) and Michael Curtiz does an excellent job of presenting multiple timelines and flashbacks, Bogie is an utterly unconvincing Frenchman (he doesn't really try at all) and the film lacks the romance, the riveting drama and the memorable dialogue of Casablanca. Passage also feels overlong, drags at times and is overly patriotic and self-aggrandizing. A good effort but not a classic.

You can find my Michael Curtiz Feature Films Ranked list here.