Pepe le Moko

Pepe, a fugitive jewel thief lives as a gang leader in the Algerian Casbah. He is protected from justice as long as he makes no attempt to leave, but when he falls in love with a visiting Parisienne, he risks his freedom to be with her. ‘Pepe le Moko’ is the epitome of 1930s French cinema and created the myth of the doomed, romantic anti-hero. This film also served to establish Jean Gabin as a major star. A romantic, atmospheric thriller, it was crucial to the development of ‘French film noir’ and inspired a number of remakes and many imitations. Duvivier admitted that ‘Pepe’ was inspired by American ganster films, especially Howard Hawks’ ‘Scarface’. In ‘Pepe’, the gangster Max who plays the cup-and-ball is a reminder of the coin-tossing ganster played by Georges Raft in ‘Scarface’. The Algiers Casbah was fully reconstituted in studio. A few exteriors were shot on location in Sete and Marseilles. Only a few establishing shot were filmed in Algiers. ‘Pepe le Moko’ was remade in the US as ‘Algiers’ (1938) and as ‘Casbah’ (1948). Further reading: Ginette Vincendeau. ‘Pepe le Moko’. London: BFI Film Classics, 1998.

Credits: Producers, Robert and Raymond Hakim ; director, Julien Duvivier ; writers, Pierre Ashelbe, Julien Duvivier, Henri Jeanson ; photography, Jules Kruger ; music, Vincent Scotto, Mohamed Yguerbouchen ; art direction, Jacques Krauss.
Cast: Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin, Line Noro, Fernand Charpin, Saturnin Fabre, Gabriel Gabrio, Marcel Dalio, Frehel.