Jacques Largy has committed a crime: his guardian having squandered his fortune, he hit the latter, who broke his skull. To avoid being discovered, he decided to flee France for Indochina, aboard a ship of the Messageries maritimes, which is anchored in Marseille while waiting to transport a troupe of actors. He meets on the Old Port the star of the troupe, Florence, a friend.
As luck would have it, the tenor hired by the tour director has just died suddenly. Jacques, who has studied singing, will be able to replace him. He embarks under a false identity. The crossing will be punctuated by various incidents. During the stopover in Port Said, Jacques saves from a fight between sailors a passenger who had imprudently ventured into the port, Odette Nicolai.
Based on a Roland Dorgelès novel, a writer whose most famous book "les croix de bois" spawned one of the best movies dealing with the horrors of WW1 ( Howard Hawks' "road to glory" was more or less inpired by it too.)
"Partir" is the "escape from the French justice " subject ; in the thirties, the "légion étrangère" was the
de rigueur way out ; in 1931, the légion was not yet fashionable, so our hero,who studied to become a professional singer , can join a troup of comedians en route to a world tour ;after all ,he did not mean to kill his guardian,it was an accident .
The voyage is monotonous and the screenplay melodramatic ; Jacques falls for Florence who is wooed by a weathy man,firts-class traveller on the liner ;although Odette ,a girl he saved , loves him dearly ,the future has nothing good in store for him.
The best in this sluggish story is the stopover in Port Said : it's filmed on location and it has an interesting documentary side ;the other ports of call , with no respect for the audience, use stock-shots.
