Algiers (1938)

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!

Reminiscent of - and perhaps a precursor to - Casablanca, this pre-Casablanca movie has all of the atmosphere of the later film it might have inspired for all I know, and a great story line and cast of actors to boot. While it doesn't quite rise to the greatness of Casablanca, it is a fine film in its own right, and a must-see film, for many reasons, not to mention the fine performance put in by Charles Boyer (perhaps his best film next to Gaslight and Love Affair - two other must- see films). With the darkness almost of a film noire movie, you can almost smell the exotic spices undoubtedly wafting down the cramped streets of Algiers' worst neighborhoods as the incredibly taught action plays out. A nail-biter as well as a tragic romance, you won't be disappointed!

'Casbah, a melting pot for all the sins of the world'. This definition of one of Algiers' quarters, given in the movie, could apply to Antioch, Alexandria or Constantinople at the height of their power, the great antique and medieval capitals of the corruption, Molochs of the criminality and excesses.I liked ALGIERS, this short treatise of underworld violence and vices, this endearing and feverish lowbrow exotic fantasy, I have found it to be appealing and exciting and, on its level, well—made.As a treatise of fancy sociology thought of in the most trite clichés, ALGIERS, a fruit of the mellow '30s (made in '38), glamorizes amply, in a heightened tone and unsubtle, unpretentious style of film-making, an exotic place, in a manner common in the era's flicks, exalting or exhaling vast projections of what the Tyr, Sidon, Sodom, Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria were thought/ supposed to have been in the legendary past, metropolis of pleasure, vice and corruption, the rule of the violence and base passions—part of those blessed ('38—well, on the brink of the war …) times' dream of adventure, here in the popular, lowbrow version; with ALGIERS we take a step into Casbah, the labyrinthine quarter where Pépé rules. ALGIERS is appealing kitsch, it doesn't address the heart, but the taste for an exciting show; labeled as the American remake of a French movie, it boasts a very chic French leading man, the famous and understandably respected Boyer (still _watchable, as a soft—spoken oldster, in a '60s melodrama like BAREFOOT IN THE PARK), here as a tough guy—Pépé, a mastermind of the underworld.As Pépé, Boyer replaces Gabin; but he reminds of Bogart.ALGIERS is a work of popular glamorization and almanac wisdom; Casbah is glamorized, Pépé is glamorized. There are things to be admired in this flick. It has gusto and energy. I liked the movie's score. The cinematography might surprise by its quality and atmosphere.One thing in this movie is subtle, though—Boyer's persona, Boyer does a venomous, a bit charming and insidious Pépé; he looks like the upgraded, boosted and cleaner version of Bogart. Or was it Bogart who looked like a lousy, dirty Boyer?

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.