112. Pepe Le Moko (1937)

Directed By Julien Duvivier

Synopsis

Renowned thief Pepe Le Moko takes refuge in the labyrinth of the Casbah in Algiers, but he feels entraped, until a lady draws him out of the city and into the clutches of the pigs!

Review

Well it seems that we are close to getting to film noir. Pepe Le Moko is an amazing example of was to become film noir in the 40's. One of the most interesting things of the film is the character of the city itself, the Casbah is as much a character as Pepe and more of a character than any other member of the cast.

Noir elements populate the whole film; shadows, characters, dangerous women - it's all there. The only downfall of the film is the fact that the script isn't as good as French films have gotten us used to. There are however some glimpses of brilliance, when the woman is singing the song about Paris near the end for example, but most of the brilliance comes from the excellent actors and very fine directing more than any other element. Jean Gabin is again phenomenal as he was in La Grande Illusion.

The directing is masterful. The opening in the streets of the Casbah is almost documentary like in its love of the image, so is the scene when Pepe is singing. The scene where Regie is killed is equally spectacular with the sounds of the piano drowning the shots, even Moko's walk to "freedom" is great with the retro projecting of streets and the open sea in front of him. All in all a masterful film which, had it had a better script could have been one of the best films of all time. Still, very worth watching, get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film is based on Henri La Barthe's novel of the same name; La Barthe contributed to the screenplay under the pseudonym 'Détective Ashelbé'.

Pépé le Moko is an example of the 1930s French movement known as poetic realism, which combines gritty realism with occasional flashes of unusual cinematic tricks. The film is often seen as an early precursor of film noir.

The film was remade in America in 1938 as Algiers, starring Hedy Lamarr and Charles Boyer.

Pepe Le Moko was remade and the american remake inspired Pepe Le Pew, so here he is, notice the mention of the Casbah: