MovieChat Forums > Algiers (1938) Discussion > Pepe Le Moko

Pepe Le Moko

posted 13 years ago by bruno-32
4 replies | jump to latest

I finally got to see all of this French version and was disappointed in the ending. I preferred the Chas. Boyer version where he gets shot running to Gaby. It seemed out of character for the French Gabin to immediately give up hope and stabs himself in an ambiguous way..we are left wondering if he died from his wounds or was lived and sent to prison. Must admit Gabin's performance was excellent, but so was Boyer, who was nominated for best actor for his role. Also, I thought "Algiers" casbah settings was more realistic, and the TCM version was excellent, considering it was made 2 years earlier.

[–] lubin-freddy 12 years ago

I'd seen Pépé le Moko before, but just got to see Algiers for the first time, albeit in a poor public domain print.

My main problem with the Hollywood remake was the minor characters, who seemed so bland and uninteresting, in comparison with those in the Duvivier version. I can imagine how it might have looked if Warner Brothers had done the film, with their wonderful stable of character actors.

I want to shake every limb in the Garden of Eden
and make every lover the love of my life

[–] didierfort 11 years ago

Also, I thought "Algiers" casbah settings was more realistic, and the TCM version was excellent, considering it was made 2 years earlier.

I don't understand what you mean with those "2 years earlier".

Anyway, I consider that Algiers is a simple rip-off of Pépé le Moko, using the same musical score, the same opening sequence, copying shots after shots, repeating the studio settings for the Casbah, only to soften them.

The dialogues are soften too, as the skirts are made longer. For the leads as for the secondary characters, but in the latter case, the dialogues are simply flat, when they were a feast for the audience in the original Pépé le Moko.

Certainly one of the saddest remakes I ever saw.
Poor Charles Boyer…

[–] Eyebrows 11 years ago

I haven't seen Algiers yet, I only heard of it after watching Pepe Le Moko tonight, so I can't comment on the merits of that film. As far as the original goes though, I wouldn't have said that his suicide was out of character.

He's clearly growing increasingly disillusioned with the Casbah and with his life throughout the film and watching the ship with the woman who could have broken him out of that disillusionment is enough to extinguish any hope he had left. He's likely facing capital punishment, if not, then a long stretch in jail and he's already spent the past two years in symbolically imprisoned in the Casbah.

Like a lot of French films at the time it's very fatalistic.

I wouldn't have said it was ambiguous either. I wasn't left with any impression other than that he'd killed himself.

[–] buxtehude99 9 years ago

Gabin does that transition very well, to the point where the end does make sense. Boyer makes the transition a little too quickly for my taste. I really need to be back to Pepe Le Moko again.