Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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!

This is basically a scene by scene copy of the previous year's French film "Pepe le Moko" starring Jean Gabin. Nevertheless, this version has the edge on the French film because of the actors -- Boyer is terrific as always, and even Lamarr makes her character more likable than in the original. The script changes are mostly minor. A nice musical score helps this version a lot as well. Remade as "Casbah" with Tony Martin in the Boyer role!

It was made just one year after Duvivier's classic ,which even Godard (Godard!)mentioned in his "Pierrot LE Fou".Although I hate God'Art about as much as I love Duvivier,I must admit that a film that can transcend the New Wavelet's contempt possesses something magic a la "Casablanca" .I was skeptical about the lead:aristocratic Charles Boyer replacing plebeian Gabin?I was wrong :Boyer,who began his career in France after all ,was up to scratch.And I 'd go as far as to write that Hedy Lamarr is much more attractive than Mireille Balin in the original.All that remains is faithful like a dog: except for the scene when an old singer (Frehel) bursting into tears when she hears one of her old recordings,all the important sequences were kept.Cromwell's directing is efficient ,although it never recaptures the intensity (and the director's pessimism) of its model ,is a good film one can recommend to people who cannot get "Pepe Le Moko" .Objections: the scene of Pierrot 's letter and the punishment of the informer is much too long and lacks suspense.Biggest gaffe is this ditty ("C'est La Vie" ) which Boyer sings and which seems out of a musical :in what is primarily a film noir,it's thoroughly incongruous.Many of the great lines of the French classic can be heard ,notably the famous "I'm an informer,I'm not a hypocrite",and the Boyer/Lamarr pairing displays a special chemistry .The black and white makes a good use of shadows and lights.If all the remakes were made with care like this one.....

No, Charles Boyer never said, "Take me to the Casbah." That is just as false as "Play it again, Sam," a line from a film that will come to mind when watching this one.Boyer (Conquest, Fanny, Gaslight) picked up his second Oscar nomination for this film. He plays a jewel thief that has found a haven in the Casbah in French Algiers. He has a hot girlfriend in Sigrid Gurie, but he sees Hedy Lamarr and it is all over. he falls head over heels and spends languid afternoon reminiscing about a Paris that he can never see again.Director John Cromwell, who had his career ruined by McCarthy fascist in the 50s, did a very good job of presenting the excitement of the Casbah and the attempts by the French police to trap Boyer. He was ably assisted by the sets decorated by Alexander Toluboff (Stagecoach, Vogues of 1938) and the cinematography of James Wong Howe (The Rose Tattoo, Hud), who along with Toluboff received an Oscar nomination for this film, the first of ten in his career.Just like Kong, it wasn't man, but beauty killed the beast. In this case, the beauty of Hedy Lamarr proved to be the death of Boyer in an ending that will again remind one of Casablanca.