Pépé le Moko (1937)

Directed by Julien Duvivier. Starring Jean Gabin, Lucas Gridoux, Fernand Charpin, Mireille Balin, Gilbert Gil, Lina Noro, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Charles Granval.

Lyrical, exotic thriller set in the “labyrinth” district of Casbah, where the titular gangster of great notoriety hides out. He yearns to be free from his self-made prison, but knows he’ll lose his underworld protection if he tries to leave; enter a beauteous Parisian (Balin) who tempts him toward risk and romance, daydreaming of desires for the woman and the city beyond his reach. Pépé is an archetype of cinematic criminal antiheroes, just as the movie presaged the explosion of film noir; a simple story but teeming with complex relationships, not always easy to wrap one’s head around. Rough around the edges, but atmospheric, cold, poetic, even a little moving in a fatalistic sort of way. Henri La Barthe, who wrote the source novel, co-wrote the screenplay with director Duvivier and others. Remade in America as Algiers the following year, and adapted into a musical (Casbah) a decade after that.

78/100