 The use of the ubiquitous B-17 was due to its being recognizable to American audiences.A scene showing Bogart's character machine gunning the defenseless aircrew of the downed German bomber was cut by censors in foreign releases of the film.Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" favorably reviewed "Passage to Marseille", noting the film's "tough and tempestuous melodrama is something of a sequel, as it were, to the comment on Devil's Island which Warner was making five years ago.