Pépé le Moko (1937)

Director:

Julien Duvivier

Writers:

Henri La Barthe (novel)
Henri La Barthe (scenario) ...

Release Date:

3 marzo 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Pépé le Moko is a gangster from Paris that hides in Algier's Casbah. In the Casbah, he is safe and is...

Plot Keywords:

Grief | Gunfight | Suicide | Gunshot Wound | Mistress

Awards:

2 wins

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Film noir from the French, before they invented the phrase

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Pépé le Moko
Gabriel Gabrio	...	Carlos
Saturnin Fabre	...	Le Grand Père
Fernand Charpin	...	Régis (as Charpin)
Lucas Gridoux	...	Inspecteur Slimane
Gilbert Gil	...	Pierrot (as Gilbert-Gil)
Marcel Dalio	...	L'Arbi (as Dalio)
Charles Granval	...	Maxime (as Granval)
Gaston Modot	...	Jimmy
René Bergeron	...	Inspecteur Meunier (as Bergeron)
Paul Escoffier	...	Chef Inspecteur Louvain (as Escoffier)
Roger Legris	...	Max (as Legris)
Jean Témerson	...	Gravère (as Temerson)
Robert Ozanne	...	Gendron
Philippe Richard	...	Janvier

También conocida como:

Nuits blanches, Les (France) (working title)

Duración:

94 min

País:

France

Idioma:

French | Arabic

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (RCA Photophone)

Clasificación:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Algiers, Algeria

Company:

Paris Film

Trivialidades:

When Walter Wanger produced Algiers (1938), the American remake, he tired to have all copies of "Pépé le Moko" destroyed. Fortunately, he was not able to do so.

Goofs:

Continuity: In a scene after Pierrot's death, Pepe is getting progressively drunker and his suit coat opens to reveal more of his shirt. His shirt has the monogram of "J.G." on the pocket; clearly the monogram of the actor (Jean Gabin) and not the character.

Quotes:

Inès: [shouting to Pépé] Luck be with you, Pépé!
Gaby Gould: What an amazing fellow!
Inspecteur Slimane: Isn't he? I think it's over I'll take you back to your friends.
Gaby Gould: With pleasure, I lost my friends.
Inspecteur Slimane: They must have gone home... Isn't Pépé Le Moko amusing?
Gaby Gould: He's entering but you won't arrest him.
Inspecteur Slimane: I've written the date of his arrest on the wall where the sun shines.

Movie Connections:

Featured in T'as de beaux escaliers tu sais (1986)

Film noir from the French, before they invented the phrase

"Pepe Le Moko" is an early film noir, coming several decades before the French themselves invented the term to explain atmospheric American crime films. And it is one of the best, a film ranking right up there with the work of Melville, Becker, and other top post war directors.

This is being billed in the US now as a sort of lost film. Actually, it wasn't lost. Hollywood simply bought the rights and kept it off American movie screens so it could release its own remake of it in 1938, retitled "Algiers." That wasn't a half bad film, made enjoyable for the most part because it was a very off-beat story, had great atmosphere and featured the breathtakingly beautiful Hedy Lamarr in the role of Gaby.

At first, when looking at this French original, you wonder why it seems so familiar. Then you realize that the Hollywood version is almost a shot for shot remake, copying almost everything. Everything, that is, but the performance of Jean Gabin.

Hollywood's version, which stared Charles Boyer, always seemed a little contrived, primarily because Boyer was just not very convincing as the tough Paris gangster who pulls a bank heist and flees to Algiers, where he takes up permanent residence in the Arab quarter, the Casbah. Boyer just didn't seem like the gangster type.

Gabin, who had played rough characters before and would go on to play many others, is perfect as the smart, charismatic, but sometimes brutal Pepe.

It is ironic that the French, so in love with gangster films that they copied American cops and robbers films of the 30s, actually made one of their own in that era that wound up being copied by the Americans.

This one is well worth seeing.