Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Rainey Dawn What a horrible film! There is not one character I care about, not one I sympathize with and not one I like nor one I can identify with. Nothing special about this film at all! The story is just lame & boring, the acting average - the fake accents are terrible, choppy cinematography etc... this is NOT a classic - it's just an awful older film and I feel sorry for the actors in this lame production with no real story.Pepe le Pew, Pepe le Loco or whatever can live, can die, can do whatever and I really don't care! What is suppose to be so good about the story of Pepe le Moko? ZERO that I can find.2 out of 10 ONLY for the actors involved in this mess of a story and lame production.2/10

Red-125 Algiers (1938) was directed by John Cromwell. It stars Charles Boyer as Pepe le Moko, a famed Parisian jewel thief, who now lives in the Casbah with his gang. He's safe in the native quarter, because it's full of alleys and passageways, and the population admires and protects him.Pepe has a lover, Ines, played by the lovely Sigrid Gurie. A police inspector, Slimane, considers Pepe his friend. However, as he tells Pepe, he'll arrest him some day.The situation is stable until a beautiful young French woman named Gaby, played by Hedy Lamarr, enters the Casbah and Pepe's life. Gaby is a kept woman, and is soon to be a rich man's trophy wife. She is beautiful as only Lamarr could be beautiful.We know Pepe will fall in love with her, and we know he will leave Ines for Gaby, but we don't know what will happen after that. (Well, we sort of know, but we're not supposed to know.)Boyer and Lamarr are ideal for their parts. However, I was equally impressed by Joseph Calleia as Slimane. He is a man who lives in both worlds--the Casbah and the police headquarters. He fits in in both worlds, but he's not fully trusted in either one.In the 21st Century, this movie is definitely dated. For example, it was completed at a time when the fact that one of the gangsters beats his wife is taken as a matter of course. (Some things have improved in the last 75 years.)However, as melodrama, Algiers is definitely a success. Boyer and Lamarr have the right chemistry, and the plot, if predictable, will still hold your attention.We saw the movie on DVD, where it worked very well. If you can't find it in a revival theater, see it on the small screen. You'll enjoy the film and you'll be glad you watched it.P.S. Boyer never says, "Come with me to the Casbah." In fact, Pepe is tired of the Casbah, and would rather be in Paris. Still, the quotation has a life of its own, and gives us a sense of how popular the film must have been in its day.

Dunham16 Walter Wanger released this classic drama in 1938 as a remake of a play earlier made into a film. Is the Casbah a geographic location you can find on a map, an uncontrollable twist of fate often used in other pieces of fiction or a state of mind you create from your own failings? The film brilliantly portrays this dilemma through superlative performances by Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie and Charles Boyer leading a first class Hollywood cast who keep you fascinated every moment. The plot sketch is one told before and told again about a retired jewel thief, convinced he has found a safe haven to live out his golden years, understands, only down the road, his own physical needs, some brilliant detective work and some enemies he has made along the way conspire against it. The negatives are low budget sets and lighting. Balancing it are ever fascinating plot twists, memorable dialogue and the lures of Hedy Lamarr's apparent first film contracted in the US and the first look for Americans at the native quarter of Algiers in Algeria. Once Boyer and Lamarr knock it out of the park in the bracelet dialogue scene, the film is in high gear keeping you fascinated every moment and even overwhelmed at the denouement.

steph92010 Algiers is not a classic, it is a perversion of the wonderful original Pepe le Moko, directed by Duvivier and starring a much more attractive and charming Pepe, Jean Gabin. If you want to fully experience the Casbah and the characters in Algiers, I recommend you don't even watch this movie and see Pepe le Moko instead, for it is much more elaborate, more beautifully filmed, the lines are not clichéd and the characters adhere much more to reality. Furthermore, the ending is so dramatic and key to Pepe's character that you'll find the Algiers version intolerable. Although Algiers does an almost excellent job mimicking each scene, the acting falls short as does the credibility of the characters. Plus, the wardrobe is truly breath-taking in all scenes, particularly Pepe's in the last scene and Gaby's (at all times) but also when she's on the boat. Frankly, Algiers is cheap as far as imitations go.