*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS*****<br /><br />Poorly conceived propaganda flick unites a classic cast to produce a truly bad egg in which they share virtually no scenes. To say that the story is muddled would be to give it too much credit -- I don't think it really has a story. At one point, the action being shown on screen is a flashback inside a flashback inside of another flashback... what with all the jumping around from story to story, it's hard to imagine that any audience could keep all this straight. <br /><br />With the unbelievable confusion going on in the intersecting plots (which basically center on a group of prisoners trying to escape from a colonial penal institution so they can fight for France -- yes, Bogey plays a frenchman in this one, believe it or not) it's not surprising that no drama or interest is created by the film's action. We already know who'll live and die because it's a flashback, so there's no suspense either. <br /><br />In a novel twist, Lorre turns out NOT to be a weirdo or a bad guy or a coward. When Bogey's character breathes his final breath, we can only sigh in relief.<br /><br />This movie was a rip-off, it wasn't even really a movie, and the audience only got to see a little bit of any of the stars.