Take Me to the Casbah! Play It Again Sam.
So much like the original French film, why not watch that one instead!?
Warning: Spoilers
In practically every way, this is a copy of the before French picture PEPE LE MOKO which starred Jean Gabin instead of Charles Boyer (in the American version). So, I am left to wonder why people would desire to run across this Hollywood version when they could just sentry the earlier film instead? This is especially truthful in the early role of the moving-picture show when lousy stock footage is used to represent the streets of the Casbah in Algiers in the American motion-picture show, but the French one looked like it was filmed on location. Most the only other major way the films differ are at the end. In the French flick, he commits suicide in a VERY unconvincing manner, only in the American version he is killed. I must say that the ending of ALGIERS was a lot better, but aside from that my nod goes to PEPE LE MOKO. Neither flick are bang-up, but very watchable and very fashionable in the way they portray this slick master criminal.
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Could Gabin Have Been Better?
The tragic account of Pepe Le Moko having been filmed in France the year before with Jean Gabin as the star must take actually impressed producer Walter Wanger. It's not often that a remake is made simply a twelvemonth later.
Jean Gabin who has been compared to Humphrey Bogart certainly would have brought a different style of Pepe Le Moko. But this film did wonders for Charles Boyer in establishing him among the start rank of American moving picture stars.
His Pepe is suave, cunning, and mortiferous. Unfortunately while hanging out in the forbidden section of French Algiers known as the Casbah, Pepe has sort of built his own prison in that section. He cannot exit considering the French police will grab him and a whole bunch of countries are getting in line with the French Strange role to behave to face a slew of crimes. But in the Casbah he's untouchable as the visiting French prefect Paul Harvey finds out.
Joseph Calleia every bit Inspector Slimane knows the only way to capture him is to lure him out of his shelter. And the allurement for that walks in with a visiting tourist from Paris played by Hedy Lamarr.
Hedy Lamarr was under contract to MGM having been brought over by Louis B. Mayer after her scandalous nude scene in the Austrian film Ecstacy. But MGM couldn't find anything for her to do, and then she stayed idle cartoon her weekly paycheck while a suitable property was found.
Boyer met Lamarr at a party according to The Films of Hedy Lamarr Citadel Press Series volume and was taken with her. He told Walter Wanger and Wanger worked out a bargain with Mayer that they could have Lamarr if Boyer did an MGM motion picture. The one he did was Conquest with Greta Garbo. Seems to have worked out all around.
There's a lot of debate every bit to how good an actress Lamarr was. And in the correct circumstances she could give a decent performance. The correct circumstances was definitely Algiers where Boyer knew that the woman who could stir him from his condom cyberspace had to be one extraordinarily cute woman. No one ever questioned that near Lamarr. Algiers launched her career for American audiences with a blowout performance.
Charles Boyer was nominated for All-time Histrion as Pepe, but lost to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town. And Gene Lockhart every bit the treacherous Regis got a nod for Best Supporting Histrion, merely he was beaten out by Walter Brennan in Kentucky.
What's fifty-fifty more extraordinary is that Director John Cromwell did a magnificent job in capturing the mood and ambiance of Algiers. A few establishing newsreel shots and smashing sets and you would think this was done on location.
There was a tertiary picture show version of Pepe Le Moko's story with Casbah starring Tony Martin. It was a musical version that savage short of establishing Martin as a large screen describe, but the songs were some of his best selling records.
Nevertheless though Boyer does a fabled job equally Pepe, though I would some day like to encounter Jean Gabin's version for comparison.
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introducing Hedy Lamarr
Pepe Le Moko (Charles Boyer) is a thief hiding from the French government in the murky underworld of Algiers' Casbah. It's impossible to find him and his stolen jewels in the narrow passages of the Casbah. He falls for cute Parisian Gaby (Hedy Lamarr) and he yearns to return to the open boulevards of Paris with her enraging his jealous Gypsy mistress Ines.
It's the American film debut of Hedy Lamarr. She had caused a sensation with her nude quantum moving picture in Europe. Hither she shows her beauty with a touch on of form. Charles Boyer has a corking coolness. The movie opens with a terrific montage of the real Casbah with its real inhabitants. Information technology may be impossible but I do wish that the actors to actually be filmed in the Casbah. The artificial studio set does take away from the exotic feel. Nevertheless, in that location is some inventive photographic camera work. This is a forgotten classic overshadowed by afterward icon Casablanca.
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Cinematically Of import
The benchmark performance in the stereotyping of Charles Boyer. I had never seen the film earlier and didn't realize that like "Play it again, Sam," he never utters the line "Come with me to the Casbah." I'1000 glad I saw it for Boyer's performance which is quite well sustained. He is truly a cad. He is truly a prisoner. Because of his success as a jewel thief, he tin can never exit the Casbah. The police play a waiting game. It'southward that old respect thing where he becomes the object of their searches and always manages to go abroad; his fable is greater than his being. However, information technology always gets u.s.a. in the cease, doesn't information technology? At that place are some nice performances and I ever similar films set in those desert cultures of the thirties and forties. I'm glad I saw it because it filled a hole in my movie knowledge.
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Drowning in his own hellish prison on Earth....
Warning: Spoilers
What's a gratuitous man to practice when he really isn't gratuitous? That's Charles Boyer's plight in "Algiers", the archetype romantic tale of a jewel thief forced to reside inside within the notorious "Casbah", a mysteriously big den of iniquity in Morocco'due south sea-side city of Algiers. And information technology is not a pretty ane. Sure, he has a large grouping of supporters to hide him inside the hidden, twisted alleys, merely he'due south trapped otherwise, subject field to being arrested if he leaves. This entrapment is slowly causing him to loose his mind. But even though the love of the pretty but poor Sigrid Gurie, he falls under the spell of a sophisticated beauty, played by Hedy Lamarr in her American picture show debut, in spite of the fact that it was simply her jewels that he was originally after.
This was undoubtedly Boyer's most famous function, and information technology is easy to see why. He is extremely handsome, charming, yet complex. He even gets to sing in one brief moment, ironic considering the film was remade as a musical, "Casbah", x years afterwards. Gurie and Lamarr are beautiful but get but a few moments to shine, mostly in exotic close-ups. Every bit he unremarkably did, Gene Reynolds plays a rat, here an informer who pays dearly for his expose in a chilling sequence that won him an Oscar Nomination. Joseph Calleia is every bit as memorable as the sympathetic police officer who befriends Boyer inside the Casbah just volition be forced to arrest him should he step exterior it. In that location is a brilliant chase sequence between the police force and Boyer's gang (which includes Alan Unhurt Sr.).
It should be noted that as this movie has fallen into the public domain, good prints are rare, and some have major sound and picture drib-out. I took this into consideration when watching it, knowing total well that when a genius similar James Wong Howe is your director of photography, it can't possibly be anything but a masterpiece to watch. Superb direction and wonderful creative item are other pluses. And for those who experience the need to ostend the presence of the oft-quoted line, "Have Me to the Casbah", don't waste material your time. Information technology'due south not there. Only lookout man the film anyway for classic movie-making at its technical and artistic best, also every bit a leading man deserving of a higher place in the list of Hollywood legends. The ending is a heart-breaker, upwards there with the classic tearjerker "One Way Passage" for irony.
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"We play the game, but fate controls the cards".
Alarm: Spoilers
The exotic locale and mysterious characters invite the inevitable comparison to "Casablanca", though my reading of other reviews on this board would suggest that the more than appropriate comparison to Bogart'due south film would be the French original, "Pepe le Moko". Since I haven't seen that one (at least yet), I'll have to confine my comments strictly to "Algiers".
To my mind, the movie doesn't approach the all around sense of romantic intrigue offered past Bogey and Bergman, but in the interest of full disclosure, "Casablanca" is my favorite film of all time, so one could say I have some bias. Leonid Kinskey is only the thinnest of threads betwixt the pictures, having appeared in both, and information technology'southward interesting how similar his mannerisms and affectations are here even though he's portraying an Arab. The film probably could have used more signature grapheme types like Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains, because even though Pepe'south goons seemed a rugged bunch, they just didn't appear charismatic plenty for the Casbah, 'a melting pot for all the sins of the Earth'. I estimate since I've seen Alan Hale and Gene Lockhart in and then many other pictures, I couldn't shake the idea that they were just terribly miscast here.
As for the ladies, Hedy Lamarr always succeeds in creating romantic tension in her films, but for my money (at to the lowest degree in this picture), Pepe needed to have his head examined for turning his back on Sigrid Gurie'due south Ines. I'yard pretty certain 'smokin' hot' was never used to describe an extra in the Thirties, but information technology'south the 2010'due south now, and that'southward how I meet it. I go the whole business organization about Pepe feeling trapped for two years in the Casbah, and feeling lucky enough to make a break for it, only it didn't seem so bad that Ines was around to offer a shoulder and whatever else to ease the boredom.
Anyway, I'll be putting in my request at the local library for a re-create of "Pepe le Moko" to compare and contrast as other reviewers have done. On balance though, "Algiers" has it's merits as an intriguing story with an exotic flair. Given the finale, 1 is led to consider that if Mister Rick and Ilsa Lund would always accept Paris, the story of Pepe and Gaby leads one to enquire what might have been.
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Pepe le Moko Comes Out.
Warning: Spoilers
The Casbah is accurately described under the opening credits every bit a neighborhood of Algiers that was built on a serial of marine terraces and stops at the ocean. It actually was a seedy and fetid maze of dwellings that provided a home for criminals. In the Algerian War fought by the French, it was a hiding place for the nationalist rebels. I conducted a thorough investigation of the area by reading the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry.
The police accept been trying to nab the notorious criminal, Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer). However, he has many friends who warn him when the constabulary are coming, and there is a labyrinth of hidden passageways and tunnels that make it extremely difficult. An investigator comes down from Paris to kicking some local barrel.
He's met past frustrated local cops who explain the state of affairs to him. The most memorable of the policiers is the grin, philosophical, slightly oily Joseph Calleia. He's irresistible. The head honcho from Paris leads a police force team into the Casbah and Pepe and his friends run them ragged. Of course, if Pepe should ever stroll out of the Casbah, he'southward yesterday's news. Boyer knows he can't come up out, and it fills his heart with melancholy because he yearns to become back to Paris. Ah, Paris -- La Place Blanche, La Gare du Nord, Les Filles de Joie, La Bourdaloue.
Enter a wealthy tourist, Hedy Lamarr, who sports a perfectly elliptical face with a vertical axis, and who drips with the jewelry that catches Boyer'south eye. Her existent proper name, of grade, isn't Hedy Lammar. Nobody is named Hedy Lamarr. Don't child yourself about that. She was born into a purple Austrian family unit and named Prinzessen Brynhyldr von Speck und Brodt. Delight, it doesn't make her less appealing.
Among the denizens of the Casbah we can glimpse Leonid Kinsky. He was one of ii of Hollywood'due south resident comic young Russians, the other being Mischa Auer. Vladimir Sokolov was Hollywood's aboriginal, mystic Russian -- the only 1. He had a busy career.
It's an interesting motion picture, not gripping, and a bit stagy, only generally well executed. The musical score is strictly pedestrian merely the photography and direction are quite skillful. There's a spooky scene involving the deliberate murder of the pudgy trembling traitor, Gene Lockhart, done to the overloud tune of a rickety pianoforte. At the reverse end of the scale, a chipper vocal by Boyer, "C'est La Vie," threatens to turn the romantic drama into a musical comedy. It's painful to watch. The large supporting cast does well by their roles.
Boyer is shine and French, but it'southward hard to believe at this point in time that the ladies swooned with such abandon over Boyer and his accent. His resonant baritone was imitated past impressionists for years after. "Come Wiz Me...." Boyer has a serious problem, though. He has a native girl friend, Sigrid Gurie, who adores him but whom he shoves effectually and tells to shut up all the time. Well, we all know that Hell hath no fury similar a woman scorned. Pepe should never take left the Casbah to intercept the adult female of his dreams at the gunkhole dock, at least not with Sigrid Gurie knowing about it.
The ending is a body of water of bathos though, in a sense, Boyer does finally escape from the Casbah.
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Back in the Casbah
It was made just ane twelvemonth subsequently Duvivier'south classic ,which even Godard (Godard!)mentioned in his "Pierrot LE Fou".Although I hate God'Art about as much equally I honey Duvivier,I must acknowledge that a motion picture that tin transcend the New Wavelet'southward antipathy possesses something magic a la "Casablanca" .
I was skeptical about the atomic number 82:aristocratic Charles Boyer replacing plebeian Gabin?I was wrong :Boyer,who began his career in France after all ,was up to scratch.And I 'd go as far as to write that Hedy Lamarr is much more attractive than Mireille Balin in the original.
All that remains is faithful like a canis familiaris: except for the scene when an old singer (Frehel) bursting into tears when she hears one of her old recordings,all the important sequences were kept.Cromwell'due south directing is efficient ,although it never recaptures the intensity (and the director's pessimism) of its model ,is a skillful film ane can recommend to people who cannot get "Pepe Le Moko" .
Objections: the scene of Pierrot 's letter and the punishment of the informer is much too long and lacks suspense.Biggest gaffe is this ditty ("C'est La Vie" ) which Boyer sings and which seems out of a musical :in what is primarily a film noir,information technology's thoroughly incongruous.
Many of the great lines of the French classic can exist heard ,notably the famous "I'thou an informer,I'm non a hypocrite",and the Boyer/Lamarr pairing displays a special chemistry .The black and white makes a skilful use of shadows and lights.
If all the remakes were fabricated with intendance like this one.....
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Pepe le Moko re-visited, with slight changes of emphasis.
Warning: Spoilers
Producer: Walter Wanger. Copyright eight August 1938 by Walter Wanger Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: fourteen July 1938 (ran three weeks). U.S. release: 5 August 1938. Australian release: Oct-December 1938. x reels. 96 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A leading French criminal, Pepe le Moko, is holed up in the Casbah, a slum section of Algiers where the police force are unable to lay easily on him. A shrewd native police force inspector forges a plan to force Pepe to venture into the streets.
NOTES: Charles Boyer was nominated for The University of Move Motion picture Arts and Sciences' Almanac award for Best Actor, losing to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town. The motion picture likewise received nominations for Supporting Actor, Gene Lockhart (losing to Walter Brennan in Kentucky); Cinematographer, James Wong Howe; and Art Director, Alexander Toluboff. Only Toluboff was nominated, non his acquaintance, Wade Rubottom, nor even Jacques Krauss whose designs Toluboff and Rubottom scrupulously followed.
An outstanding success at box-offices worldwide, the film made an international star of Hedy Lamarr, here making her first English-language movie. Hedy was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the insistence of Charles Boyer (who himself was forever identified with his function in this motion-picture show).
Although Algiers did not brand Frank S. Nugent's "Ten Best Films of 1938" for The New York Times, the movie does figure prominently in his supplementary list.
COMMENT: Virtually a 90% shot-for-shot remake of the Duvivier "Pepe le Moko", fifty-fifty downwards to the casting of the support players and their costumes. True, Boyer does create an individual portrait, much softer and more than romantic than Jean Gabin's. He is helped by changes in the script which make Le Moko far less brutal and by a slightly different ending which preserves his romantic image. Otherwise, this is simply Pepe le Moko re-visited, with slight changes of emphasis and camera angles here and there, some for the improve, some neutral, but fortunately none for the worse.
Fortunately, the acting is easier to compare. Leonid Kinsky (of all people) comes over with detail effectiveness in this version and-thanks to some clever bits of business organization of his own invention-easily outshines an extremely skillful Marcel Dalio. All the other players, however, including Miss Gurie and Miss Lamarr, are either equaled or outclassed past their French equivalents. Gene Lockhart's portrayal is scrupulously modeled on Charpin's even down to his facial expressions, while Joseph Calleia gamely attempts to imitate Lucas Gridoux right downward to the way he twirls his swagger stick. Nonetheless, if y'all're imitating someone or something that's really first course, you can't exercise much better than that!
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Go to the Casbah-Algiers ***
After 68 years, the sound on the filming is surely going simply "Algiers" remains a picture of intense intrigue.
A wonderful operation is given by Charles Boyer as the suave, cunning Pepe Le Moko, a jewel thief who has taken refuge in the Casbah-an eerie place surrounded by labyrinths and bullets along the way.
The constabulary can't seem to "smoke" Pepe out of his refuge despite repeated raids. He has his gang of cohorts with him along the way.
Pepe longs for his erstwhile life in Paris. In a run a risk meeting, he meets the Hedy LaMarr grapheme, a young, beautifully vibrant woman who reminds him of his days past and of his current situation hiding out in the Casbah.
Sigrid Gurie is Ines, her evil-looking eyes tells you her intentions. If she can't have Pepe, no ane else will either.
There are fine supporting performances by Joseph Calleia as a sinister looking detective and Factor Lockhart, every bit a traitor who pays the ultimate price for his treachery.
Those Boyer never uttered those famous words, "Come to the Casbah," become anyway to enjoy this well done motion-picture show.
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The gem thief of the Casbah
Alert: Spoilers
Imitation is the best form of flattery. For audiences that haven't seen the far superior, "Pepe le Moko", directed by Julien Duvivier, this version, will have to suffice. "Algiers" follows its French model in means that it's merely not a remake, it's a re-create of the other film.
Fortunately for John Cromwell, a fine managing director, he got a tremendously appealing operation by Charles Boyer, a suave player who embodied the famous jewel thief of that notorious district of Algiers. This movie was also made meliorate thanks to the magic camera work by James Wong Howe, one of the all-time men in the business, as proved by his long and distinguished career backside the scenes. Henri LaBarthe's novel was adapted for this American version by John Howard Lawson, with James Cain's helping with additional dialog.
"Algiers" is not without its own merits. Thanks to the talented bandage that came together for the making of this film, it has gained the status of a classic. Charles Boyer was perfect as Pepe, a homo whose life centers around the mysterious citadel where all kinds of unsavory characters live. Hedy Lamarr, one of the most beautiful faces in the movies, makes a good appearance as Gaby, the woman who steals Pepe's heart. Gaby and Pepe have a common ground as they reminisce of Paris, a city both beloved.
The other triumph of "Algiers" was the way the supporting players made this story much ameliorate, equally it seems impossible to visualize other people bandage for the key minor parts. Sigrid Gurie, is a mysterious Ines, the woman in love with Pepe. In her love, she doesn't cease to take into consideration what her actions will practise to her lover. Gene Lockhart, a magnificent character actor, is phenomenal in his accept of Regis, the schemer of the Casbah. Joseph Calleia, is perfectly sly as Inspector Slimane, a man with the patience of a saint, who must sense of humour Pepe and his gang and who is powerless inside the Casbah. Stanley Fields makes a loyal Carlos, Pepe's trusted companion. Johnny Downs is seen as Pierrot and Leonid Kinskey, another grapheme thespian who worked extensively in that menstruum of the American movie house, is excellent as Fifty'arbi.
For those who haven't seen the original Duvivier film, endeavour getting the wonderful DVD to run across the bang-up Jean Gabin in one of his all-time roles. The copy shown by TCM recently, seemed somewhat faded. We don't know if it has been remastered yet, only plainly, James Wong Howe's work ought to be seen in all its magnificence.
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The Shriek Of Araby
Alert: Spoilers
Afterwards reading several of the comments on this i my immediate reaction was they've got to be kidding; to requite them a break information technology appears that most of them hadn't seen the neat Duvivier picture show Pepe Le Moko which was released the previous year. Nosotros tend to think of Hollywood retreads of French Classics equally something insufficiently new but they were at it lxx years ago and they've nevertheless to equal let alone eclipse even one French original. Calculation insult to injury the credits nowhere mention that this in fact is virtually a scene-for- scene, shot-for-shot remake with the odd minor change here and in that location - like the ending and omit all mention of the great Henri Jeanson who supplied the dialogue for the original classic. The only thing that Charles Boyer and Jean Gabin had in common was that both were French; Gabin was, at times, a cantankerous between Bogie and Cagney whilst Boyer is a cross betwixt a second-rate baritone and Narcissus. Okay, it'south well shot and some of the support is out of the right canteen but all of that applies to the original plus, of course, the definitive Pepe in Gabin. Like the human being said, if it ain't broke ...
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Lamarr'southward kickoff American film
No, Charles Boyer never said, "Take me to the Casbah." That is just equally false as "Play it once more, Sam," a line from a film that will come to mind when watching this one.
Boyer (Conquest, Fanny, Gaslight) picked upward his second Oscar nomination for this film. He plays a jewel thief that has found a haven in the Casbah in French Algiers. He has a hot girlfriend in Sigrid Gurie, but he sees Hedy Lamarr and it is all over. he falls head over heels and spends languid afternoon reminiscing about a Paris that he can never see once again.
Managing director John Cromwell, who had his career ruined by McCarthy fascist in the 50s, did a very good task of presenting the excitement of the Casbah and the attempts by the French police to trap Boyer. He was ably assisted by the sets decorated by Alexander Toluboff (Stagecoach, Vogues of 1938) and the cinematography of James Wong Howe (The Rose Tattoo, Hud), who forth with Toluboff received an Oscar nomination for this film, the first of ten in his career.
Just like Kong, it wasn't man, but beauty killed the brute. In this case, the dazzler of Hedy Lamarr proved to be the decease of Boyer in an ending that will again remind one of Casablanca.
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"You lot know what you remind me of? The subway . . . "
Warning: Spoilers
. . . grand romancer "Pepe" informs "Gaby" about i:07:thirty into ALGIERS. Being a crack family unit jewels thief, Pepe has not had a chance to ride The Tube for at least two years. He's been holed upward in ALGIERS' "Casbah" with some wench named "Ines," who'd probably be wearing cherry if this no-budget film could take been shot on a modern cell phone. It'south been said that "Mississippi has no fury like a woman scorned," and that goes double for Ines. She'due south similar a March Hare keeping Pepe imprisoned downward her Mad Hatter Hutch, and her merciless clutches lead to Decease's icy-cold touches. Gullible Gaby seems open to receiving Pepe with her pink tabby, since her fiancé treats her kind of shabby. Simply the cops dismantle Pepe's gang ane-by-one, as this is what Special Counsels do for fun. Gaby cannot even run across Pepe sliding into Death'south Dark Tunnel, because her view is blocked by her cruise ship's funnel. ALGIERS might be endurable during role of a twenty-four hour period, merely it is worse than Hotel California for an extended stay.
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Atmosphere to Spare
"Algiers" is one of those exotic foreign intrigue movies so popular throughout the 1930s -- the kind that introduced Marlene Dietrich to American audiences early in the decade -- and it's got atmosphere to spare. Charles Boyer plays jewel thief Pepe le Moko, hiding out in the Casbah and surrounded both past allies and those who are itching to plough him into the authorities for their own profit. He falls for a beautiful tourist, played by Hedy Lamarr, and the fantasy of a lovers' stroll through the streets of Paris with her is plenty to make him wonder whether it's worth risking getting caught for a fleck of old fashioned and normal romance.
Lamarr is certainly beautiful, simply her function doesn't amount to much. The motion-picture show belongs to Boyer, and he'south excellent, so good that his performance earned him a Best Role player Academy Award nomination at the 1938 Oscars. Cistron Lockhart, as a sleazy toadie who double crosses Boyer, received a All-time Supporting Player nod. Two additional nominations went to the film's art management and cinematography. In improver to its stylish expect, I appreciated the flick's tight screenplay, a piffling curiosity of economic storytelling.
Grade: A-
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fun "foreign" film. girl visits bad boy.
The steamy, sultry atmosphere only makes this film. The teasing and flirting betwixt the proper, upright Gaby (Lamarr) and the outlaw Pepe (Boyer) is forbidden and mysterious. Does he beloved Gaby, or maybe he wants her jewelry that she flashes when she visits. And HE lives in the dirty, naughty, Casbah, where anything is possible. Except escape, for Pepe; he is lord of the manor there, merely once he steps out into boondocks, the law volition arrest him for his crimes. And to add to the dark story, Pepe already has a girlfriend (Sigrid Gurie). Co-stars Gene Lockhart and Alan Hale. Dark, foreboding atmosphere all the fashion through, and the music and small alleys only add to the sadness. The sound and picture quality are pretty rough, and that too adds to the gritty atmosphere. Manifestly many of the copies around at present are second or 3rd copies of copies, so there it is. Dorsum-stabbing. Dearest story. Exotic far-abroad places. Shut-ups on optics and lips. And jewelry. Directed by John Cromwell. He has a long, interesting story, and directed some nifty films along the way. The film Algiers was nominated for four oscars, merely no winners. Information technology'due south a fun, 96 minute getaway to a far away place. Highly recommended. I'm not usually a fan of Charles Boyer, merely this ane is really skilful!
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Boring, Lame And Awful!
What a horrible motion-picture show! There is non one character I care near, not i I sympathize with and not 1 I like nor ane I can identify with. Nada special most this movie at all! The story is simply lame & dull, the acting average - the imitation accents are terrible, choppy cinematography etc... this is Non a classic - it'south only an awful older film and I feel pitiful for the actors in this lame production with no real story.
Pepe le Pew, Pepe le Loco or whatever can alive, tin can die, can do whatever and I actually don't care! What is suppose to be so good about the story of Pepe le Moko? ZERO that I tin notice.
ii out of ten Only for the actors involved in this mess of a story and lame production.
two/10
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A Expert Performance By Boyer In An Otherwise Weak Story
Alarm: Spoilers
Pepe le Moko, played past Charles Boyer, is some sort of international criminal mastermind wanted in countries throughout Europe, and to stay free he holes himself upward in the Casbah, a mysterious role of Algiers where even the police are reluctant to go, until a senior officer is sent from Paris to capture le Moko once and for all. For le Moko, although the Casbah allows him to remain out of law custody, it also becomes a sort of prison at the same time - a identify he can't leave, because the moment he does, he knows he'll be arrested.
Boyer'south performance was skilful, and I can understand why he was nominated for an Oscar. He captures the essence of such a grapheme - a perfect combination of very dangerous and yet very classy at the same time. The movie itself, unfortunately, was quite a letdown. A number of parts of the story seemed inconsistent, of which I'll mention two. First was the thought that the constabulary wouldn't enter the Casbah. That was stated pretty conspicuously at the beginning of the motion-picture show past the local commander, and even so repeated references in the movie propose that in fact the police force did enter the Casbah fairly regularly. And so, neither the proposition by Commissioner Janvier that the police wouldn't enter, nor the statement by Inspector Slimane (likewise a decent functioning by Joseph Calleia) that they could become into the Casbah but not out seemed to make much sense. I also found it difficult to believe that le Moko - hardened criminal mastermind that he was - could be and so quickly swept off his feet by Gaby (Hedy Lamarr) to the bespeak where he entertains the local populace past singing love songs and then leaves the Casbah to discover her, essentially giving himself up. I understand the irony of the final few scenes, of course, as Pepe leaves the freedom of his prison (the Casbah) only to find real freedom in his capture (because he'south shot and killed by the law.) I just found it impossible to believe that someone like le Moko would autumn into such a trap.
This is worth watching for Boyer, and to a lesser extent Calleia, merely the story is disappointing and inconsistent. 3/10
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Precious stone Thief
Warning: Spoilers
"Algiers" was originally released back in 1938.
Anyway - Every bit the story goes - Pepe Le Moko is a primary thief who fled his native French republic with a treasure trove of gems. For ii years now he has lived in the infamous Casbah section of Algiers ruling its tangled streets with avarice and cunning. The government wants him taken out of circulation but the canny inspector Slimane is willing to play a waiting game.
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Charles Boyer every bit Casbah-Nova...
I've seen remakes earlier but the case of "Algiers" doesn't quite make sense, even with objective Hollywood terms taken into reasonable consideration, why would anyone remake a archetype French film ane year afterwards its release. Granted dubbing didn't prevail back and so but why they just didn't release the French original? In 1937, Renoir fabricated "Grand Illusion", i yr after, it became the get-go foreign movie nominated for Best Movie, why was Julien Duvivier'southward archetype non given the same treatment, especially since the film was a classic that concluded upward inspiring i of the virtually archetype American movie of all time and Best Picture show winner of 1943 "Casablanca".
"Algiers" is and so like in every single frame that you just accept to read my review of "Pépé le Moko" to know the story the hell with my review, just watch the original movie. The film that starred Jean Gabin and Mireille Balin was both the French equivalent and precursor to "Casablanca" fifty-fifty in the way the protagonists where all embittered and somewhat lost souls driven by nostalgia and overwhelming circumstances not to mention some legal matters, and it'south ultimately nostalgia from Paris that let poor Pepe lower his baby-sit and get in trouble, that and a scattering of betrayals. But nostalgia or not, I'k sorry but I couldn't buy English speaking Charles Boyer as a street-smart Parisian, which is featherbrained since the thespian is French.
His emphasis enhanced my suspension of atheism, I remembered Boyer playing another grand French figure like Raimu's "César" and to the player's credit, his performances are never impressions merely personal takes on characters that shine on their own without stealing anyone's thunder. I like fifty-fifty Boyer in "Algiers" merely let'southward take it as a fact that Hedy Lamarr could never pass as a Parisian in the role played by her superior analogue Mireille Balin, it's good enough that she could pass every bit a decent actress. I didn't run across many Lamarr's movie but after watching her, I couldn't see what the fuss was all about. But I wouldn't say she was the main crusade for my lack of interest toward the film.
I couldn't peradventure take "Algiers" seriously considering every shot, every moment was a replay of the original, and while there's nothing to blame on nigh of the cast, everyone from the grunter (Gene Lockhart) to the suave fez-wearing detective (Joseph Calleia) does justice to their parts but information technology was still the parts equally they were played by the French actors, on that level, peradventure "Algiers" is a masterpiece of 'recreation'. And I suspect the riveting opening montage was borrowed from "Pepe le Moko" because I liked the role so much I watched it again and I remembered the whole sequence. Besides many déja vu to use a fitting French term and yet, they didn't even use much of the graphic symbol originally played by vocalist Frehel.
I enjoyed "Algiers" as far as Boyer could carry the enjoyment solitary and equally long as I could see Paris in his eyes, his emphasis and his marvelous singing of "C'est la Vie!" but when Hollywood tries too much to imitate classics, I'd rather intendance for the classics. French 30's movies were a step ahead of other movies and without spoiling any of the two movies, allow's simply say that there was i aspect that "Algiers" couldn't replicate, it's the catastrophe. Hays Code struck once more, and it's a shame. The catastrophe is still powerful plenty simply simply as a culmination of that particular story, whatever 5 minutes from the French film are better than the climax of "Algiers".
Notwithstanding, you'll never read me saying this movie shouldn't have been made. It should have, for i simple reason: Boyer's loving tirade introduces his French lover image and the iconic tirade imitated by Tom in the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon (ah you set my soul on fire) and Pepe le Moko inspired naturally Pepe le Pew, if just for these tiny $.25 of legacies, "Algiers" was a huge souvenir for the world of entertainment. The remainder of the film is forgettable, it'southward sad but like Boyer would say c'est la vie!
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Brilliantly innovative love story
Warning: Spoilers
ALGIERS is near a human who is trapped meeting a woman who is as well trapped. They are perfect together, but their dearest is not going to get anywhere. For he is a convict on the run from a long prison sentence - hiding in a disreputable "colorful" section of the urban center of Algiers in (what was then) France's N African "departments" - but is now the city in Algeria. Pepi Le Moko is only prophylactic in the "Casbah", considering, although a respected police detective similar Inspector Simane is tolerated few others are. Just Pepi dreams of his homeland. He misses France, specifically his native Paris. But it is impossible to return without facing serious criminal penalties. He meets Gabrielle ("Gaby") who is a tourist with her best friend and their two fiancés. Both fiancés are substantial men (Gaby's is M. Giraux - a fat, unsympathetic type who knows what he wants and will pay for information technology). But her background was every bit a worker in the basement of a department store - marriage will free her from that. Just she will be tied to her fat husband.
The two find in each other more than a heavenly spark. Both remind each other of a happier globe: that of Paris where both grew up (ironically in nearby neighborhoods). They really discover each other talking nearly Metro stations in Paris' subway. And both realize that with each other they might be free again. But tin can they become together? It is a marvelous film. Pepi does have a daughter (Ines) who is trying to awaken in him her own passions, but finds commencement she is battling his desire to return to France, and so he is pursuing Gaby. There are too the members of Pepi'due south gang, who are his optics into the goings on in the city exterior his sanctuary. And there are dangers in the sanctuary: traitors like Regis who tin can exist mortiferous in their activities.
In the end we are never bored by this film. It was (with MAYERLING) the picture show that introduced Charles Boyer to movie audiences as a peachy moving-picture show lover (and here a sad one). It was likewise the flick that re-enforced stardom on Hedy Lamar afterward ECSTASY. Sigried Lurie'southward Ines is intensely tragic, and Gene Lockhart properly sleazy as Regis (and his terminal scene very satisfactory to the audition). As the disagreeable Gireaux, Robert Grieg showed a brutal pessimism his butlers in motion-picture show comedies rarely showed.
Just best, in some ways, is Joseph Calleia every bit the Inspector. Normally playing villains and sleaze-balls, Calleia had a chance here to be on the side of the law, and also to prove a sympathetic understanding of Boyer's Pepe. He can tell that the human being is hurting for his homeland, and while he is willing to employ this to get him out of the Casbah he does respect Pepe'south feelings. In the end he regrets his pursuit's conclusion. A very satisfactory conclusion to the motion picture though.
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Swell visuals, great setting, awkward writing, and some uneven acting...a mixed bag!
Algiers (1938)
Take the teaming alleys of the former town of Algiers in North Africa, cramped and multi-national, filled with intentional mystery, and you have the basis of a great picture show. A great, exciting, unique, visually gorgeous 1.
And it delivers on some of those scores. But why is information technology also a bit impuissant and forced all he way through? Ii chief reasons, I think. First, some of the secondary characters are comic caricatures (like Cistron Lockhart), and equally if to confirm this, they are given some silly lines as well. Second, the direction, under John Cromwell, which is clumsy and patchwork. Some of the most ordinary lines are delivered with avoidable clumsiness. I don't recall Charles Boyer is a very convincing Arab kingpin, nor is the chief policeman from Paris a chip believable. All of this stacks the movie against its terrific setting.
The highlight might really be the simplest to empathise--the photography by the great cameraman James Wong Howe. Correct behind, but nigh accounts, is the presence of Hedy Lamarr as a kind of sophisticated femme fatale, bejeweled and bewitching. At least from the point of view of Boyer, who at ane indicate is transfixed by her bracelet, her pearls, and her smile, in that guild. The sure sign of a doomed man.
The drama does go more intense, and both the police pressure and the crossed lovers percolate a scrap. Boyer remains perplexing as the leading man, equally if always aware he's the leading human more intent on existence charming (in that 1930s French style) than playing the part of a supposed dominate. And merely wait for the scene where he breaks into song and everyone comes around to listen. Expert thing the photography never relents--you tin can sentinel the movie for the visuals solitary.
I'm non sure what gives this motion picture its reputation, merely I'll throw up a red flag confronting information technology. The exotic local, the mix of nationalities, the odd assortment of actors, and the fundamental romance might brand seem to presage Casablanca (in those ways) only the comparison ends there. Don't exist discouraged past the first xx minutes, which is the weakest function. Past the end the mood has changed enough to work.
If you're wondering, this is a depression budget production from Walter Wanger, a year before he produced John Ford'due south "Stagecoach." And the filming occurred in Algiers itself, which is part of the interest. Give it whirl. Attempt to discover a sharper version than the lousy 1 Netflix streams.
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Skillful Atmospheric Drama
Though "Algiers" is not and so well-remembered today, it'due south non hard to see why information technology was quite popular in its time. Information technology's a practiced atmospheric drama that makes you feel as if you were function of the story, and it likewise has a practiced cast and interesting characters. The story is told well, and about of the time it moves at a skilful pace.
The atmosphere of the 'Casbah' is fix nicely from the beginning. The opening scene, as the constabulary talk over how they might catch the notorious Pepe Le Moko, is very efficient in describing the urban center and its peculiarities, and information technology is a skillful prologue to the story that follows. As information technology progresses, there are a lot of interesting details with some practiced photography that bring everything to life. Boyer and Lamarr are pretty good as the leads, although the supporting cast and characters are least as important to making everything piece of work. Information technology has several fine character actors such equally Gene Lockhart, Alan Hale, Joseph Calleia, and Paul Harvey, who all play interesting roles.
Bated from a couple of deadening spots and mayhap a few pocket-size signs of age, this is an entertaining drama that is well worth tracking down for anyone who enjoys classic cinema.
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Pepé le Moko in sentimentalised American style
When I heard about this motion picture I was surprised that I did not know about it, since I thought I had seen all Charles Boyer's films, and I thought my friend confused it with Julien Duvivier's motion picture "Pepé le Moko", but it was worse than that. This was a remake the year afterward the Duvivier film, they did that sometimes in the 30s, remakes but a year subsequently the original, but information technology was worse than that: this was an exact re-create, truthful to the original in nearly every scene. The only major departure was the appearance of Hedy Lamarr as Gaby, some contrast to Jean Gabin'southward less impressing beauty.
Another difference is that Charles Boyer actually sings a song, which Jean Gabin never did. To cap the obsession with this romantic Algiers story, in that location was another remake ten years afterward with Marta Toren taking over the whole show and reducing Pepé le Moko to an unconvincing and well-nigh empty-headed crooner.
Of course, the story is excellent, also Charles Boyer is excellent as usual, and this was Hedy Lamarr's first American pic, and her beauty is plenty to make anything excellent where she shows up. They even used the same film music makers and the same music as in the French picture; and although the film is good, the original is e'er the best.
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He was condom equally long as he stayed in the Casbah
Algiers (1938) was directed by John Cromwell. It stars Charles Boyer as Pepe le Moko, a famed Parisian jewel thief, who at present lives in the Casbah with his gang. He's safe in the native quarter, because it's full of alleys and passageways, and the population admires and protects him.
Pepe has a lover, Ines, played past the lovely Sigrid Gurie. A law inspector, Slimane, considers Pepe his friend. However, as he tells Pepe, he'll arrest him some day.
The situation is stable until a cute immature French woman named Gaby, played by Hedy Lamarr, enters the Casbah and Pepe'south life. Gaby is a kept woman, and is soon to be a rich human's trophy wife. She is beautiful as merely Lamarr could be beautiful.
We know Pepe volition autumn in dearest with her, and we know he will exit Ines for Gaby, just nosotros don't know what will happen after that. (Well, we sort of know, but we're non supposed to know.)
Boyer and Lamarr are ideal for their parts. All the same, I was equally impressed by Joseph Calleia as Slimane. He is a man who lives in both worlds--the Casbah and the law headquarters. He fits in in both worlds, merely he'south not fully trusted in either ane.
In the 21st Century, this movie is definitely dated. For example, it was completed at a fourth dimension when the fact that one of the gangsters beats his wife is taken as a matter of course. (Some things take improved in the final 75 years.)
However, as melodrama, Algiers is definitely a success. Boyer and Lamarr accept the right chemical science, and the plot, if anticipated, will nevertheless hold your attending.
We saw the motion picture on DVD, where information technology worked very well. If yous can't detect information technology in a revival theater, encounter it on the small screen. You'll savor the film and yous'll exist glad you watched it.
P.Southward. Boyer never says, "Come with me to the Casbah." In fact, Pepe is tired of the Casbah, and would rather be in Paris. All the same, the quotation has a life of its ain, and gives us a sense of how popular the film must have been in its day.
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