Pépé le Moko
Synopsis
In the 30's, in Algeria, the charming Parisian gangster Pépé le Moko (Jean Gabin) rules in the district of Casbah. Surrounded and protected by the women and his gang, he is unattainable by the French and Algerian police forces, but also he has been imprisoned in the area for two years. The police unsuccessfully try to bring Pépé le Moko to the center of Algiers to capture him, and he misses his former life in Paris and Marseilles. The astute and ambiguous Algerian inspector Slimane (Lucas Gridoux) promises to arrest Pépé le Moko the day he leaves Casbah. When Pépé meets the French Gaby Gould (Mireille Balin), she represents everything he misses in his life, and he has a crush on her, bringing a fatal jealousy in his mate, Inès (Line Noro).
Source : IMDb
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (20)
Production and distribution (3)
- Executive Producer : Paris Film Production
- Film exports/foreign sales : Tamasa Distribution
- French distribution : Discina
Full credits (9)
- Adaptation : Jacques Constant, Henri Jeanson
- Screenwriters : Henri La Barthe, Julien Duvivier
- Directors of Photography : Marc Fossard, Jules Kruger
- Music Composer : Vincent Scotto
- Editor : Marguerite Beaugé
- Sound Recordist : Antoine Archimbaud
- Author of original work : Henri La Barthe
- Producers : Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim
- Production Designer : Jacques Krauss
Watch this movie
Watch Pépé le Moko in VOD
| Platforms | Model | Price | Quality |
|---|
Sorry, your search returned no results.
| Platforms | Model | Price | Quality |
|---|
Sorry, your search returned no results.
| Platforms | Model | Price | Quality |
|---|
Sorry, your search returned no results.
| Platforms | Model | Price | Quality |
|---|
Sorry, your search returned no results.
Media Gallery
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama
- Production language : French
- Production country : France
- Original French-language productions : Yes
- Production year : 1936
- French release : 28/01/1937
- Runtime : 1 h 34 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 787
- Visa issue date : 31/08/1940
- Approval : Yes
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Black & White
- Aspect ratio : 1.37
- Audio format : Mono
Box-office & releases
Box Office
This content is for registered users only.
Are you a member? Please login to view content.
TV broadcasting
This content is for registered users only.
Are you a member? Please login to view content.
International releases
| Country | Distributor | Buyer | Release date | Titre local |
|---|
Sorry, your search returned no results.
News & awards
Selections (5)
About
The release of "Pepe Le Moko" (1937) is a treat. Best known as the basis for the classic American film "Algiers" (1938), it's been unavailable in the United States for 60 years, except in butchered prints and bad videotapes. It turns out that "Pepe Le Moko" is even better than "Algiers."
The French original has it all over on the Hollywood version in the way it conveys atmosphere. It takes place in French Algeria, where the gangster Pepe Le Moko (Jean Gabin) is holed up in the Casbah, a labyrinthine district of alleys and markets, with a surprise around every corner. In the Casbah, Pepe is both king and prisoner. He rules the underworld, and the cops can't get near him. But he knows that he can never leave.
The American remake provided Charles Boyer with his signature role: He played Pepe as a romantic whose longing for Paris dooms him. But Gabin brings something else entirely to Pepe, an impulsiveness, a buoyancy, a tough-guy playfulness, and in the end he gives the more magnetic and persuasive performance.
Gabin's Pepe is a lovable, heart-on-his-sleeve sort of fellow, who inspires loyalty through sheer likability. He's young, well-dressed and has a bright open face, not unlike that of Kenneth Branagh.
One night, at the tail end of a shootout with cops, he meets a young, rich woman, Gaby (Mireille Balin), who is slumming with a party of friends. Gaby represents everything that Pepe can no longer have -- namely, Paris -- and the two start a romance.
The American version played up the romantic scenes, which benefited enormously from the Gaby of Hedy Lamarr, whose beauty defied description. But while those scenes retain their impact to this day, the French version, following the identical story, just makes more sense. In "Pepe Le Moko," the romance doesn't bring out the title character's fatalism but his exuberance. This Pepe has a real capacity for happiness.
In one particularly lovely sequence, Pepe is so pleased to be in love that he sings on his rooftop, while the native women, in the street, giggle to themselves affectionately.
© Mick LaSalle, "San Francisco Chronicle"
