 Later, when confronted by Captain Freycinet, the five confess to being escaped convicts from the French prison colony at Cayenne in French Guiana.They had been recruited by Grandpère (Vladimir Sokoloff), a fervently patriotic ex-convict, to fight for France in her hour of need.To Grandpére, the inmates had recounted Matrac's troubles in pre-war France to convince the old man to choose Matrac to lead the escape.