[3] It is set in occupied Paris in 1942 and tells the story of two men who defy the curfew to deliver pork for the black market.

The film is very loosely based on the short story "La traversée de Paris" by Marcel Aymé.

In Paris in 1942, under German occupation, unemployed taxi-driver Marcel Martin makes his living delivering parcels by night for the black market.

Then, taking a dislike to the owners of a bar where the two hide with their suitcases of fresh meat to avoid policemen checking papers, he starts wrecking the place.

The two drop into the hotel where Martin lives with his wife and Grandgil makes a quick phone call, again speaking in German.

Martin is stunned to discover that his companion is in fact a world-famous painter, who has agreed to come along mainly for his own entertainment and insists on returning the money he extorted.

[8] François Truffaut wrote in 1956: "I admire, without any real reservations, La Traversée de Paris.

I think it's a complete success because Autant-Lara has finally found the subject he's been waiting for—a plot that is made in his own image, a story that his truculence, tendency toward exaggeration, roughness, vulgarity, and outrage, far from serving badly, elevates to an epic.

... A verve much like Céline's and an insistent ferocity dominate the movie, but it is saved from meanness by a few emotional notes that overwhelm us, particularly those in the final scenes.