Pépé le Moko (1937)

Director:

Julien Duvivier

Writers:

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

Release Date:

3 March 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:

Casbah | Police | Inspector | Gangster | Algeria

Awards:

2 wins

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

Also Known As:

Les nuits blanches (France) (working title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Arabic

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Algiers, Algeria

Company:

Paris Film

Trivia:

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:

Referenced in For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)

The greatest French director?

Some will say Renoir.Some will say Carné.Some will say Clouzot.Some will say..yuk ..Godard..

I will say Duvivier.His career spans half a century,from the silent era to the sixties,full of detours and retreats.But when he broke through -and his epiphanies were many and various, (there are masterpieces all along his career;never until the very end he produced anything mediocre)he made brilliant films.

But those precious years just before WW2 were justly looked upon as the best French cinema that had ever been.And Duvivier was among the creme de la creme ,producing during this golden era a chef-d'oeuvre a year (la belle equipe:1936;la fin du jour:1939).But 1937 was Duvivier's year:he made not one but two classics :"un carnet de bal" and "Pepe le Moko" both rated four stars by Leonard Maltin.

"Pepe le Moko" 's screenplay is so simple it's a wonder Duvivier could make such a masterwork from such a script.More than the story itself,it's the atmosphere which matters ,and a bevy of colorful characters surrounding the hero,played by the director's favorite actor Jean Gabin :one often forgets that it's Duvivier who launched Gabin,the most famous French star of the era (and maybe of all time)in such works as "la bandera" (1935)and "la belle equipe" (1936).

"Pepe " takes place in Algiers ,in some kind of ghetto" la casbah" .the hero is a gangster who reigns in this underground world ,but we soon discover he is actually a prisoner:a cop,like a spider on its web, is waiting for him to leave his refuge to arrest him.Duvivier's camera work is dazzling ,using panoramic shots which depicts la casbah as a maze ;when Pepe finally leaves the place ,the background behind him becomes blurred ,then merges with the sea,the gate of freedom.More than a gangster story ,it's a tale of nostalgia.Pepe falls in love with a woman (Mireille Balin) "from the outside world" while talking with her about different places in Paris,ending with la place blanche where they both belong.There 's the harrowing sequence where a has-been chanteuse (Frehel) plays one of her records on a gramophone ,thinks of her glorious past,and sings the chorus with her youth's voice as her tears fall down.

There are also exciting film noir sequences:the informer (Charpin) ,more and more terrified ,as the room fills with men ready to kill him;his death against a player piano ;Pepe behind the gates in the harbor.All the final scenes had probably a strong influence on Carol Reed's "odd man out" (1947)

Remade as "Algiers" by John Cromwell(1938) ,Charles Boyer taking on Gabin's part.