How is it that these three convicts are escapees yet the family (or anyone else) has not heard about their escape? News like that travels fast especially in such a tiny community. And how is it nobody seems to be looking for them? Also why is there other convicts walking the streets?
shareIt's been a long time since I have seen this movie so I'll probably get some of the details wrong but here goes anyway.
They were on an island something like Devils Island that the French govt. used to send their worst convicts to. If a prisoner tried to escape there was nowhere to go. The authorities probably kept a close watch on the port areas and probably had patrol boats to capture anyone in a makeshift boat. If a prisoner made it out they still had thousands of miles of ocean to navigate and could easily get killed by storms or have a lingering death by dehydration.
You do know there were neither radio nor TV at the time the film is set? And no Internet either. ;)
If you are still interested: the opening sequence explains it all. Bogart plays 'Mr Exposition' and explains that there are plenty of people walking around in prison clothes- no-one is likely to notice three more. (Later, we are told that using prisoners as labour is usual on the island.) Then they are being tracked by dogs from the prison who lose their scent in the sudden downpour that occurs just as they think their 'holiday from home' is over.
🇦🇺 All the little devils are proud of Hell.
IMDB got it wrong. They were not escape convicts, at least not yet. The prison rented them out to do labor for the citizens that lived on the island. The prison knew exactly where they where. They (the convicts) even notified the prison they were staying overnight at the store. It was while they were at the store that they start plotting their escape.
That's why nobody was looking for them; and why there were other convicts walking the streets. They were all rented labor.
This whole movie is farcical.
It is a French farce written for the stage and this a studio-bound filmed stage play with totally non-credible characters and a waste of Ustinovs charm.
no, they are escaped convicts, that is made clear at the beginning of the film. It is said that they nearly killed a guard while escing. But because there are many paroled convicts working on the island, they can easily pass unnoticed.
If they were "escape" then why did the convicts call the prison and tell them they were staying overnight at the family's house?
shareThey didn't. However, i see on looking up the original play, that the convicts were not escapees in the play. So perhaps that is a scene in the play. maybe you have seen the play somewhere? B ut in the film they are very definitely shown to be escapees, it is discussed at the beginning of the film. though i think it would probably have been better to stick with the original play and have them be convicts working at the store legitimately, it woudl make the ending more believable. i mean, i imagine that the penalty for trying to escape from devil's island was probably quite severe. Once you had escaped, i wouldn't have thought it was very likely you would go back voluntarily.
shareI don't know if it was still technically in effect by the time this movie was made, but I seem to remember reading that the Hays Code (the self-censorship guidelines for American movies, prior to the ratings systems) specified that "crime [couldn't] pay". That might explain why the movie couldn't allow convicts (who were actually guilty) to successfully escape from prison.
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die."
well, they have escaped fairly successfully in the film, then at the end they decide voluntarily to return to prison. the flaw in this is that having eecaped, in a place like devil's island, they would certainly be savagely punished when they returned. that is why i think that really the original play is more logical, because they are not escapees but working in the shop because they have been sent there.
shareYou make an excellent point, especially regarding brutal punishment for attempted escape. On the other hand, their being escapees gives them a more compelling and realistic motive for wanting to rob the shop in the first place. Escapees need money, clothes, etc. to get away. Inmates, however, would have no such motive, and would have the added problem of hiding or explaining stolen property they wouldn't get to keep or use anyway. Either way, it's a plot hole that I guess I'll continue to ignore every Christmas when I break out this movie.
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die."
i have not seen the original play, but i think what happens is that they are planning to rob the shop and then escape, but change their minds as they get to like the family.
shareI guess that does make more sense.
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die."
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