Algiers (1938)

Walter Kingsford: Louvain

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Commissioner Janvier : I'm not interested in hearing excuses about local conditions. No doubt there are local conditions. Here's a criminal who's exploits have made him notorious throughout Europe. He escaped from France with a fortune in jewels and for two years he's been living here in Algiers, within a stone's throw of your headquarters.

  Louvain : As you say, Commissioner.

  Commissioner Janvier : I'm here to settle this - and I want it done quickly.

  Louvain : We've been trying to settle the case of Pepe le Moko for two years.

  Commissioner Janvier : In Paris, we handle more difficult cases every day.

  Louvain : Too bad you didn't arrest him before he escaped from France. Merely an oversight, no doubt.

• Louvain : Pepe le Moko lives in the Casbah.

  Commissioner Janvier : Why not go in? Take him out?

  Louvain : You can't arrest a King in his own Palace.

• Louvain : As a civilized man, you don't like fantasy.

  Commissioner Janvier : As a police officer, I don't believe in it.

• Louvain : It's only a step from the modern city, the Casbah; but, when you take that step - you enter another world. A melting pot for all the sins of the earth.

• Louvain : The Casbah rises like a fortress from the sea. Colorful, sordid, dangerous!

• Louvain : Seen from a bird's eye view, the Casbah is a great staircase. Each step is a terrace rising from the sea.

• Commissioner Janvier : No evidence?

  Louvain : Nothing! Are you satisfied?

  Commissioner Janvier : I'm never satisfied!

• Regis : We've all learned that there's only one way to arrest Pepe.

  Louvain : Oh, that's very intelligent of you.

  Regis : You know my intelligence is at your service.

  Louvain : Well, so far, it's hardly been enough.

• Louvain : How do we know we can trust you not to make a better bargain with Pepe?

  Regis : I am an informer; not a hypocrite!

• Commissioner Janvier : Do you deal in riddles here?

  Louvain : In deed, we do. Oriental riddles.

• Louvain : You've just arrived from Paris, Commissioner. You're not familiar with the Casbah.

  Commissioner Janvier : Casbah? What's that? Some kind of nut?

  Louvain : A very hard nut - to crack.