Summary
Pépé le Moko has gained a reputation as the most notorious crook in Algiers,
loyally served by his band of armed criminals. The police are determined to bring
him to book, but every attempt so far to lure him out of the Casbah where he is safely
in hiding has failed. One day, Pépé meets up with a beautiful Parisian
tourist, Gaby Gould, and falls instantly in love with her, to the chagrin of his current
partner, Inès. Sick of his self-enforced imprisonment in Algeria and disillusioned
after the death of his friends, Pépé is prepared to risk everything to accompany
Gaby on her return to Paris...
Review
An undisputed classic of French cinema, Pépé le Moko combines poetic
realism with gangster thriller, making this one of the earliest and best examples of the
French film noir genre. The film clearly carries the echo of the film which inspired
its director, Howard Hawk's 1932 masterpiece Scarface (which became the
prototype for the American gangster movie of the 1930s). This is most apparent in
the photography, which is definitively film noir in its use of shadows and silhouette
to create a sense of clandestine underworld menace. In addition, the film
has several moments of terrifying dramatic intensity, most famously as the brutal execution
of an informer, masked by the sound of a mechanical piano.
With its studio re-construction of the Algerian Casbah, the film creates an oppressive
atmosphere, very evocative of the native Algerian settlement, which could hardly have
been improved by shooting the whole film on location. Squalor and danger pollute
every inch of the set, and it is no wonder Pépé le Moko is keen to get out
of it.
Jean Gabin is sublime in the part of Pépé le Moko, one of his memorable
roles, and one where he gives arguably his best performance. This film firmly established
Gabin as the tragic hero of the poetic realists, a role he would almost monopolise for
himself in French cinema of the late 1930s. There are also impressive performances
from Gabin's co-stars, who include Line Noro, Mireille Balin and Lucas Gridoux.
Noro is particularly impressive as Gabin's rejected lover, having a natural rapport with
the great actor which her rival, Mireille Balin, just fails to match. The popular
musical hall singer Fréhel appears in one of the film's most moving scenes, intoning
the words of one of her own songs played on a gramophone, "java au son de l'accordéon
".
With the outbreak of World War II, Pépé le Moko was banned by the
French authorities for being too depressing. Once the ban had been lifted after
the war in 1945, the film was immediately re-released and was widely proclaimed as a masterpiece.
More than fifty years later, the film's reputation has not diminished and is often cited
as one of the best examples of French cinema of the 1930s.
© James Travers 2002
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