Good movie but grossly overrated

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Producer: Walter Wanger. Copyright 8 August 1938 by Walter Wanger Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 14 July 1938 (ran three weeks). U.S. release: 5 August 1938. Australian release: October-December 1938. 10 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 are unable to lay hands on him. A shrewd native police inspector forges a plan to force Pepe to venture into the streets.NOTES: Charles Boyer was nominated for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Annual award for Best Actor, losing to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town. The picture also 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, not his associate, 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 film. Hedy was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the insistence of Charles Boyer (who himself was forever identified with his role in this picture). Although Algiers did not make 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", even down to the casting of the support players and their costumes. True, Boyer does create an individual portrait, much softer and more romantic than Jean Gabin's. He is helped by changes in the script which make Le Moko far less vicious 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 better, some neutral, but fortunately none for the worse. Fortunately, the acting is easier to compare. Leonid Kinsky (of all people) comes over with particular effectiveness in this version and-thanks to some clever bits of business 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 by 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 down to the way he twirls his swagger stick. Nonetheless, if you're imitating someone or something that's really first class, you can't do much better than that!

Algiers (1938)Take the teaming alleys of the old town of Algiers in North Africa, cramped and multi-national, filled with intentional mystery, and you have the basis of a great movie. A great, exciting, unique, visually gorgeous one.And it delivers on some of those scores. But why is it also a bit clumsy and forced all he way through? Two main reasons, I think. First, some of the secondary characters are comic caricatures (like Gene Lockhart), and as 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 awkwardness. I don't think Charles Boyer is a very convincing Arab kingpin, nor is the chief policeman from Paris a bit believable. All of this stacks the movie against its terrific setting.The highlight might actually be the simplest to understand--the photography by the great cameraman James Wong Howe. Right behind, but most 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 one point is transfixed by her bracelet, her pearls, and her smile, in that order. The sure sign of a doomed man.The drama does become more intense, and both the police pressure and the crossed lovers percolate a bit. Boyer remains perplexing as the leading man, as if always aware he's the leading man more intent on being charming (in that 1930s French way) than playing the part of a supposed boss. And just wait for the scene where he breaks into song and everyone comes around to listen. Good thing the photography never relents--you can watch the movie for the visuals alone.I'm not sure what gives this movie its reputation, but I'll throw up a red flag against it. The exotic local, the mix of nationalities, the odd assortment of actors, and the central romance might make seem to presage Casablanca (in those ways) but the comparison ends there. Don't be discouraged by the first twenty minutes, which is the weakest part. By the end the mood has changed enough to work.If you're wondering, this is a low budget production from Walter Wanger, a year before he produced John Ford's "Stagecoach." And the filming occurred in Algiers itself, which is part of the interest. Give it whirl. Try to find a sharper version than the lousy one Netflix streams.

This is a really well done film that documents the true nature of the Casbah . A ghetto section of Algiers it was home to many peoples and religions , the most common theme was as a hideout for illegal activity and a haven for fugitives from justice somewhere in the world .The atmosphere is well done as a rather dank and dusty centuries old maze of connecting modules one leading to the other where only natives have a chance of navigating their way through .Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer) is a fugitive from France jewel thief who longs to be home , Sigrid Gurie his shadow who does anything for his love .And Hedy Lamarr as the beauty who swoops in and steals Pepe's heart and good sense .A very entertaining film to watch . Try it !

Cromwell's ALGIERS is basically a shot-by-shot English language remake of the French film PEPE LE MOKO (1937). This is not to say it is an unworthy remake- quite the contrary. With the smoldering Charles Boyer (nominated for Best Actor) as the French-born criminal hiding out in the depths of the Casbah, and the stunningly beautiful Hedy Lamarr as the engaged French tourist who he falls for, ALGIERS is extremely worthwhile viewing. Cromwell's capable and creative direction, impressive production and set detailing and the smoky black-and-white atmosphere photographed by stalwart James Wong Howe all make ALGIERS a fine film. It obviously influenced Curtiz's much-lauded CASABLANCA with it's depiction of the crowded, bustling exotic Casbah.The film hangs on the premise of career criminal Boyer allowing himself to fall for a woman, placing him in danger as he dares to venture out of the confining, yet safe, Casbah in a moment of passionate madness. Lamarr, in supreme close-up represents everything that the homesick Boyer longs for. His initial interest in her is for her jewelery, yet in a series of stunning, stunning shots he instead focuses on Hedy's tantalizing mouth instead of the sparkling jewels dripping off her wrists. Cromwell films the romance in forbidden snatches, with Boyer and Lamarr heating up the screen in their roles. In the film's most erotic moments Boyer, endlessly reminded of his longed-for homeland by Lamarr, likens the sound of her heartbeat to a subway train and the smell of her dark hair to the underground.Boyer becomes an intensely tragic figure as the film progresses, with his final scene (the film's finest) extremely memorable and oft-imitated. Boyer, lured out of "ze Casbah" by his passion, finds a sad, departing (endlessly beautiful) Lamarr staring out at the Moroccan shoreline from her ship. Boyer, handcuffed, screams out her name, running towards her, rattling on the gates that bar him. He is shot and killed, yet in the end is "free". Wonderfully presented.