Casbah (1948) User Reviews

Arlen-Robin score the real star here

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 October 2004]

When Tony Martin was discharged from the Navy he was looking for a vehicle that would reestablish him as a top musical lead in Hollywood and decided that a musical adaption of Algiers was just the ticket. He gathered a good supporting cast and the results, while entertaining were a mixed bag.

The best thing that Casbah had going for it was the great musical score that Harold Arlen and Leo Robin wrote for this picture. Four numbers were sung by Martin and co-star Yvonne DeCarlo. Every one of them became a big hit and were a staple of Tony Martin's nightclub act for years. Hooray for Love, What's Good About Goodbye, For Every Man There's A Woman, and It Was Written in the Stars are the songs that Martin does. The last one was identified by Ella Fitzgerald as her favorite Harold Arlen tune and one she insisted on including in her Harold Arlen songbook album.

The score greatly benefited Tony Martin's singing career, but he never did reach the heights on screen as a musical leading man. Acting wise Peter Lorre steals the show as the wily, serpentine Inspector Slimane. Lorre's Slimane is charming, cunning, and treacherous as he uses all of his "little gray cells" to bring down arch criminal Pepe Le Moko, played by Martin who is unassailable in the Casbah section of Algiers.

Yvonne DeCarlo is the tobacco shop owner who's crushing out on Martin and I'm sure that given the location of the story, one could probably get more than tobacco to smoke from her place. The other lead is the jet setting Marta Toren who Martin is panting after and forces him to make a life or death decision. Toren was extraordinarily beautiful woman in the Hedy Lamarr tradition who after a short stay in Hollywood went back to Europe and died there way too young of leukemia in 1957.

If you are a fan of Tony Martin's singing as I am, this is an absolute must. Martin had not yet met and married Cyd Charisse who became wife number two. I think the film might really have been a classic had she done it with Tony. As it is she never did anything together while she was at MGM with her husband and we're the worst for it.

A musical film noir

[Anne_Sharp · 7/10 · 9 September 2000]

If you don't recall seeing this featured in any of the "That's Entertainment" anthologies, it's because this black-and-white postwar romance with songs is considerably darker and more sophisticated than the usual Hollywood musical. A considerable improvement over the 1938 Americanization of "Pepe Le Moko," the logy Charles Boyer vehicle "Algiers," this not only integrates a few well-chosen musical numbers featuring Martin, Yvonne de Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dancers into the old story, but adds a refreshing note of humor and playfulness. Martin isn't bad at all as the surly, sexy gangster Pepe, who was always one-dimensional anyway. Peter Lorre is the dream Slimane that he should have played ten years earlier in the Boyer film (though Lorre's often credited as being in "Algiers," it was actually Joseph Calleia who played Slimane in that film), and Marta Toren's bittersweet siren is seductively reminiscent of Valli in "The Third Man."

Why leave?

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 31 March 2011]

Pepe le Moko (Tony Martin) is wanted by the French and local police in Algeria where he has his hideout in the Casbah. However in order to get him, the police have to infiltrate the Casbah to bring him in. Casbah is the Algerian word for fortress and that is the problem that the police have. They have 2 approaches - Louvain (Thomas Gomez) takes a direct route by storming in and arresting him - this fails as it has on every occasion before - because everyone in the Casbah is on Pepe's side and he always escapes. Slimane (Peter Lorre) from the local police is more streetwise and befriends Pepe while maintaining that he will one day arrest him. The 2 opposite thinking inspectors need to collude to bring him out of the Casbah in order to make the arrest. They do this by sending an old prison-friend Carlo (Douglas Dick) to betray him and lure him out with a love interest Gaby (Marta Toren).

Yvonne de Carlo who plays Inez, Pepe's girlfriend, is my favourite of the cast with Peter Lorre and Thomas Gomaz also standing out. Yvonne de Carlo also manages to pull off singing her song and turns it into one of the memorable scenes as she mocks Pepe's behaviour in it. The other moments of singing are not necessary with Tony Martin bursting randomly into song and providing moments of hilarity as he does so - "Oh no - he's singing again. What for?"

This film has a great setting and it's a shame that the two lead women did not have a scene together where they could confront each other. There is some crazy chicken-killing voodoo ritual dancing that is also thrown into the mix and despite the ending being utterly unconvincing, this is an enjoyable film.

remake of "Algiers" not "Casablanca"

[ronnmullen · 26 October 2002]

This strange little item is a remake of the 1938 film "Algiers" which starred Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr, which itself was a remake of a French film of the previous year, called "Pepe LeMoko." The 1938 version made stars of Boyer and Lamarr; Tony Martin (who was married to dancer Cyd Charisse) and Marta Toren were not so lucky. Both were physically attractive enough but lacked the panache and charisma to capture the movie going public's loyalty. DeCarlo held her own in the film in a secondary role in a period when Universal was trying to figure out what to do with her -- the camp era was over -- no more "Salome" or "Sheherazade" for her. She did some fine work in film noir during this time -- "Brute Force" and "Criss Cross" in particular. (If you look real close at the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe -- you might spot a young dancer named Eartha Kitt who made quite a name for herself a bit later, as a singer.)

For every mousetrap, there's a piece of cheese...

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 30 January 2013]

This semi-musical remake of "Pepe Le Moko" and the American remake "Algiers" focuses heavily on the obsession for Marta Toren by Casbah thief Pepe (played here by Tony Martin in one of his few real "acting" assignments) and makes the den of thieves and cut throats truly a claustrophobic prison for its hero. He's more than content (at first) to remain in this ghetto, that is until the exotic Toren shows up much to the chagrin of the sultry Yvonne DeCarlo, his long-time mistress who is instantly filled with fury. Algiers inspector Peter Lorre, a pal of LeMoko's in the Casbah, warns him never to leave, but love for Toren will open a Pandora's Box that leads to betrayal and eventually Martin's downfall.

The songs barely last a minute each (if that) but two stand out-the Oscar Nominated "For Every Man There's a Woman" and the ensemble "Horray For Love!" which in the 1980's some ABC advertising executive approved for use as its daytime soap promotional music theme. There's also a rare film appearance of the legendary Katherine Dunham (as a café proprietor) and her dance troop which depicts an accurate view of the black population in Northern Africa and the Arab world.

Compared to the first two excellent versions, a musical version seems unnecessary, but what has been produced is actually quite enjoyable. Then, there's the lovely DeCarlo, free from Salome's dance and Scherezade's song, getting to sing an embittered verse of "For Every Man There's a Woman" simply to harass the love-lorn Martin. This was long before she got to sing "I'm Still Here!" on Broadway in the original "Follies", and anybody who has heard the cast recording of "Follies" will agree that here she has not been dubbed like other future stars on Broadway (most notably Angela Lansbury) were in movies at this time. DeCarlo is excellent in her cynicism, trying to hide her love for Martin but showing definite heartbreak in her eyes. Lorre is excellent as the law enforcement officer who is actually on LeMoko's side but knows ultimately he'll have no choice but to place Martin under arrest. Toren is lovely but bland, but Martin shows more depth in his character than you'd expect from him.

Casbah review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 13 May 2020]

Surprisingly good remake of Pepe Le Moko with crooner Tony Martin giving a good account of himself as the cool, ultra-popular master criminal who enjoys a spurious life of liberty in the maze-like Casbah. Journeyman director John Berry does a good job of creating a sultry, claustrophobic atmosphere, and while the songs are largely unnecessary they don't really slow things down too much.

Right tunes, wrong picture

[ilprofessore-1 · 6/10 · 27 December 2019]

After Tony Martin was discharged from the Navy in 1942, and not under the most favorable circumstances, he tried to rekindle his then dormant career as a movie star by founding a production company. Having raised some money on his own, he convinced Universal to put up the rest. To showcase his talents as an actor/singer, he chose to remake a remake of a 1937 "Pepe Le Moko," a French film with Jean Gabin that a year later became the American "Algiers" with Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr. ("Come wiz me to ze Casbah.") Martin was not a bad actor, a sort of sexier Ronny Reagan who could sing, but as a producer he (or the director John Berry) made a fatal mistake of trying to mix two genres. This 1948 film is neither melodrama nor musical, but something odd in between. The tunes by the great Harold Arlen, one of which ("For Every Man There is a Woman") is now a classic, don't seem to fit in with the rest of the film. Listening to Martin croon in the midst of an otherwise dramatic scene is like having Rick burst into a chorus of "As Time Goes By" to remind Ilsa of how much he once loved her before he ended up in Casablanca. The Swedish actress Marta Toren, then being groomed to be the next Bergman but looking more like Alida Valli, is lovely and perfectly acceptable in the Lamarr role, but although she could act she often speaks as if she was being dubbed by Zsa Zsa Gabor. Yvonne De Carlo, a great beauty and a fine actress whose talents were never fully recognized, is her luscious self as the hometown girl Martin discards for the sexy tourist. Eartha Kitt, then a member of Katherine Dunham's company featured in the film, can be seen very briefly at approx. 1:19:20 dancing in and out of frame. (This was her first movie.) The greatest plus in the film is, as always, the presence of the incomparable villain and charmer Peter Lorre as the police inspector. Unlike Tony Martin, Lorre could do no wrong. To give Tony his due, in the same year this film was made and flopped at the box-office, the baritone ended up marrying Cyd Charisse. Excellent recompense.

Curious crime musical

[Billiam-4 · 6/10 · 9 January 2022]

Curious crime musical with a touch of noir and a lot of Tinseltown exoticism is watchable due to good performances, careful direction and not too much music, for that matter; furthermore unusual for not having a happy ending.

Come wiz me to the low rent Casbah

[jjnxn-1 · 5/10 · 11 May 2013]

Wrong headed semi musical remake of Algiers which is missing all the ingredients that made the first film stand out. Whoever thought that Tony Martin(?!) could be an acceptable substitute for Charles Boyer was seriously misguided or just plain crazy. While he has a fine singing voice he has zero screen presence so starting out the film has a black hole at it's center. Then there's Marta Toren in the Hedy Lamaar role, while she is certainly lovely she does not possess that elusive star quality which Hedy, although a spotty actress, had in spades. Yvonne de Carlo, an effective actress when properly cast, seems a natural for the Hedy Lamaar role but is wasted in a secondary part although top billed. Peter Lorre is the best thing here but he is similarly underused. All in all a throughly forgettable enterprise.

Casbah

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 5 January 2023]

This is an odd film to watch, this one. Essentially it appears to be a post war vehicle for successful actor/crooner Tony Martin ("Pepe le Moko"), but somewhere along the line director John Berry loses his way with this hybrid of romantic musical - there are half a dozen numbers from Harold Arlen and Leo Robin, including the Oscar nominated "For Every Man There's a Woman" - mixed in with a lightweight crime-noir scenario fronted by policeman Peter Lorre ("Slimane"). The confusion isn't really helped by some indifferent writing and even a glamorous, sultry performance from Yvonne de Carlo ("Inez") fails to get the thing moving with any direction or impetus. Lorre is good, doing what he always did well - a sort of hot, sweaty, weasel in a suit - and the setting of the law-unto-itself Casbah in Algiers where his quarry is protected ought to have helped create a bit of menace, mystery at least, too - but, no, sorry - this is just an average film held up by some fine tunes.

Tony Martin as Pepe Le Moko; Lily Munster as Inez...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 10 April 2002]

I watched this years ago on TV with a friend who swore that was NOT Yvonne DeCarlo playing the spitfire Inez...I almost lost my mind! Yvonne is unintentionally hilarious in this campy musical remake of 1938's "Algiers", featuring big, bland Tony Martin as Pepe Le Moko (for those who don't know, Tony Martin was even more bland than Perry Como and Andy Williams, sort of a Dean Martin knock-off without any of Dino's naughty charm). Pepe is a jewel thief caught between two women, and he occasionally breaks out into song (not bad songs mind you, as they were written by the famous Harold Arlen). Still, viewers not familiar with the picture's background might think they've stumbled upon a musical version of "Casablanca". *1/2 from ****

Loved Casbah. I know all the lines and songs by heart.

[dhenderson-3 · 8/10 · 25 August 2004]

I've watched this movie many, many times and I truly love it. Tony Martin, as Pepe LeMoko, plays a suave, fascinating and very sexy jewel thief who is wanted by the police but is protected by everyone in the Casbah to the point that they will not let the police arrest Pepe and remove him from its confines. Marta Toren, in the role of Gaby, is a very beautiful, classy and mysterious lady visiting the Casbah who meets Pepe. Pepe finds her so extremely different from anyone he has ever met in the Casbah and she also finds him fascinating (what women wouldn't?). It's easy to see how they become attracted to each other and the sparks start flying. Yvonne DeCarlo plays Inez, Pepe's long-time girlfriend who tries to break up Pepe and his new interest. The supporting cast, including Peter Lorre and Thomas Gomez, are well-cast and believable in their roles.

The music is wonderful and Tony Martin's voice is too. It's truly one of my favorite movies of that era.

A dull and unnecessary remake.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 27 March 2020]

In 1937, the French film "Pépé le Moko" debuted. Hollywood was so taken with it that they remade it a year later as "Algiers". Inexplicably, they remade it again in 1948. I say inexplicably because the casting of singer Tony Martin in the lead just made little sense as he was about as unlike Jean Gabin and Charles Boyer (in the previous films) as you could get! And, as a result of this miscasting, the film was a huge mistake.

The story is about a criminal boss in Algiers named Pépé le Moko (Tony Martin). He's cool but not at all in a way like other incarnations of the character. Much of this was because he seemed about as French or North African as borscht. Much of it was because he'd periodically break into song.

None of this nonsense was particularly interesting....and I found myself wanting to turn off the movie after about 20 minutes. The only thing that seemed interesting was seeing Peter Lorre cast against type...and in this case as a policeman! Overall, a dull affair and I suggest you instead see either of the earlier versions and not waste your time with this one.

Film Noir with songs

[B.J. · 10/10 · 19 January 2006]

Pepe Le Moko is a great film role. Jean Gabin introduced the character to screen in the same named French Flick in 1937.

Charles Boyer brought the moody mobster to Hollywood's ALGIERS in 1938.

But in 1948, Tony Martin and director John Berry collaborated to create the most dramatic and entertaining version of the downfall of the exiled jewel thief in CASBAH.

Casbah is a film very alive with energy, style, suspense and romance. Brilliant casting; Tony Martin plays the suave thief with easy conviction and delivers the Harold Arlen songs skill, charm and gusto.

Marta Toren was arguably the most beautiful woman in films, prior to the arrival of Audrey Hepburn.

Peter Lorre...I can't believe how powerful his complex performance is as the dedicated policeman, committed to the capture of the thief who became also his friend.

Yvonne De Carlo, Douglas Dick, Katherine Dunham, acting, singing, dancing, love, passion, treachery...where is this great film on DVD? John Berry and Jules Dassin were contemporary artists and spirits. Their films even show a similarity of style and influence, possibly each upon the other.

They were also fingered as American Pinko Fellow Travelers right about this time and both moved to England. Dassin prevailed and prospered, probably with some initial support from Darryl F. Zanuck. Berry also prevailed, but without achieving anything like Dassin's level of success or recognition. Still, CASBAH, for my money is, value for value, the most under-acknowledged film out of Hollywood.

Yvonne, Tony and Marta.

[alecson · 8/10 · 20 January 2004]

I was 15 when I first saw this film. Tony Martin played Pepe le Moko. I wanted to be like him. Because when you're 15 you think of how lucky you must be to play opposite beautiful girls such as Yvonne De Carlo and Marta Toren. These three actor/actresses had much more talent than they were given credit for. Tony seems cast perfectly as the gangster, yet no director gave him another chance in that type of roll. Unfortunately the gorgeous Marta Toren died several years later. But Yvonne carried on, appearing in other good films and the Munsters TV series. I hear she is now living in California. Good luck to her. Thanks for the memories (especially Casbah)

Successful remake of Duvivier's "Pepé le Moko" but not quite striking home

[clanciai · 8/10 · 23 March 2017]

It is not a bad remake of Julien Duvivier's classic and incomparable "Pepé le Moko" with Jean Gabin from 1937 with even some advantages to the French original, chiefly Marta Toren as the beautiful lady from abroad and home and Peter Lorre as the police inspector in one of his most suavely amiable and abominable performances; but the songs are quite good also and Tony Martin, although inferior to Jean Gabin, is convincing and charming enough. Another asset is Yvonne de Carlo as Inez, and like in "Pepé le Moko" you wonder why he doesn't prefer her to the alien lady as a much more rational and sensible option; but it's in his nature to choose challenge to comfort.

There is very little to add, if you have seen "Pepé le Moko" you have seen it all, the drama is exactly the same here with its regrettable and overwhelmingly sad finale, but Julien Duvivier makes it both more realistic, more poetic and more overwhelming. What Tony Martin lacks is the tragic touch of Jean Gabin with his poignant stigma.

Mock Pépé

[dbdumonteil · 30 June 2011]

There were no less than three remakes of the French classic "Pépé Le Moko" by Julien Duvivier: John Cromwell's "Algiers" could not hold a candle to it,but it was not bad and some of the lines of the original screenplay were preserved.It had nonetheless Charles Boyer sing a maudlin song ,which was not a really good idea."Casbah" did the same and had Tony Martin croon two bland songs (even De Carlo pulls a little tune)

"Casbah" is a disaster ;the fact that it begins with a bunch of tourists visiting the Casbah with a guide did not bode well .But John Berry completely butchered "PEPE" .The hero is a handsome crooner,it takes lots of imagination to believe he is a thug .And Yvonne De Carlo is not even given the best female part!She has to be content with the part of INES -which was fleshed out whereas it was a secondary character in the original- the mistress the buck is not in love anymore with.She and Peter Lorre are the only positive elements of an appalling film noir. And if it were not enough ,the final ship is replaced by a plane,which is much less romantic .

For the record,the third remake is an Italian spoof called "Toto Le Moko".

Generally superior semi-musical remake of foreign intrigue thriller "Algiers"

[estherwalker-34710 · 8/10 · 1 August 2022]

French international jewel thief Pepe le Moto once again returns to the screen, after a 1937 French version and a 1938 Hollywood version: "Algiers". In the latter, French-derived Charles Boyer, as Pepe, sings one song in the streets of the Algiers Casbah(fortress and surrounding region). However, in the present film, we have 4 new songs, composed by Harold Arlen("Over the Rainbow") and Leo Robin. One of them: "For every Man, there is a Woman", was sung twice by notable film actor/singer Tony Martin, and by notable actress, singer and dancer Yvonne de Carlo. This song was nominated for an Oscar, but lost. In my opinion, the music, including a 'native' dance special or two, is an important reason to favor this film over "Algiers". It was just enough in quantity and quality, to spice up and complement the drama, without being too diversionary.

After stints in the US Navy and Army Air Force, in WWII, mostly functioning as a singer for bands, followed by several years mostly emphasizing making singing recordings, handsome Tony Martin wanted to reestablish his pre-war career, as a singing actor, preferably often as a leading man. For his starter, he chose to do a musical remake of the 1939 "Algiers", even establishing his own production company, in alliance with Universal. Although I much prefer him as Pepe over Charles Boyer, with the latter's very thick French accent, the film was not a financial success, and his subsequent film roles were few and far between. I thought he was good as the lead in "Two Tickets to Broadway". He was also among the mix of various MGM musical stars in the extravaganza ""Hit the Deck".

For the important role of the enigmatic duplicitous police inspector Slimane(Yes, he was very slimy!), we have the always charismatic Peter Lorre, who does a great job in his frequent scenes.

For the role of Pepe's live-in mistress, we have the first-billed Yvonne de Carlo. It can be justly argued that perhaps she should have played the more important visiting siren: Gaby. However, raven-haired, pixie-like Swedish Marta Toren, in her inaugural Hollywood feature film role, is acceptable. In fact, I think she is preferrable to Hedy Lamarr, in "Algiers", in this role. She will probably remind you of a mix of Audrey Hepburn and Eleanor Donahue, if you can imagine such, with a fuller face. Pepe was immediately dazzled by this new jet-set beauty, studded with jewels supplied by her rich playboy sugar daddy. Pepe brazenly seats himself next to her, accompanied by sugar daddy and Madeline. He soon asks her to dance with him, she accepts, at sugar daddy's irritation, and soon Pepe is wooing her. Yep, he was a fast worker!

Madeline is never explained. Like sugar daddy, she appears to be in her 30s. The 3 of them arrived on sugar daddy's large yacht: an odd-seeming threesome. My most plausible guess is that Medeline is sugar-daddy's sister. She seems friendly with Gaby, and tries to dissuade her from abandoning sugar daddy for Pepe. Gaby's, young, handsome, virulent sugar daddy is very different from the one in "Algiers", who is 60yo, very obese and ugly. Pepe must have had some very special pluses to pry her away from this sugar daddy! Also, unlike the one in "Algiers", who never accompanied Gaby on her several excursions into the Casbah, this pair usually accompanied her, serving as a partial deterrent to thievery of her several jewels on display. Unlike in "Algiers", talk is made of the frequent theft of jewelry and other valuables of visitors by Pepe and gang. Perhaps some of the proceeds from these thefts were distributed to the other Casbah inhabitants, thus partly explaining Pepe's near universal popularity with the Casbah people.

Unlike "Algiers", a police raid is staged, in which Pepe is captured and marched toward a Casbah exit. Along the way, various obstacles are emplaced, or the police are maimed, one by one, until none is left, and Pepe is free to rejoin Gaby, who is amazed, even after Slimane assured her of this outcome.

I find it amazing how stupid and careless Pepe is to be tempted to walk out of the Casbah without disguise, and with the police alerted, to buy a ticket on the plane Gaby has boarded to Paris, apparently not expecting to be arrested at some point. Also, as in the case with "Algiers", how could he be so stupid as to rush toward the plane as it took off, trying to catch Gaby's eye to show that he is, indeed, alive, in contrast to what Slimane had deviously told her. Ironically, he would be alive only for another few seconds, as he was shot, on the assumption he was trying to escape. He was the ultimate risk taker, and paid the ultimate price.

See it, free, at YouTube. There is also an expensive DVD, but many complaints about it, so I would stick with the YouTube copy.