Duvivier’s Casbah is the equivalent of Conrad’s jungle, a site murderous to Europeans save the darkly heroic Pépé or Kurtz. Pépé le Moko’s opening montage looks like it could come from Pontecrovo’s film. Based on a 1931 novel by Détective Ashelbé (the acronym based nom de plume of Henri La Barthe), the film and its source material speak to the importance of crime stories in French culture. Let me go. Start by marking “Pépé le Moko” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Pépé le Moko (1937), directed by Julien Duvivier from the novel by Roger Ashelle and starring Jean Gabin, is the epitome of 1930's French cinema. It's our favorite topic, of course. It tells the story of the glamorous gangster Pepe, trapped in the Casbah in Algiers. He knows police will be waiting for him if he tries to leave the city. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. When Pépé le Moko finally premiered in the United States of America in the spring of 1941, over four years after its release in France, Bosley Crother’s review in The New York Times praised it as “a raw-edged, realistic and utterly frank exposition of a basically evil story.” Crother, then at the start of his nearly three-decade career at the Times, continued: Don’t get the idea, however, that “Pepe le Moko” is a risqué film. Later, as he passionately kisses her neck and mutters that she smells goods, she quips “it’s the Métro.” Pépé’s desire and her allure are both territorialized. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Pépé le Moko works as a study of colonial urbanism. BFI Film Academy: ... Story of Pépé le Moko, a French outlaw living in Algiers who spends his life in the narrow confines of the Casbah to … Trying to stop him, the ever faithful Inès asks what she did wrong. by British Film Institute. Allowed to watch her ship leave from behind a locked gate, Pépé calls out to Gaby but the steam horn blocks his cry. In a subsequent scene, an older Algerian woman Tania, played by former music-hall star Frénel, reinforces the point with a nostalgic song about Paris. [7] When Inès follows Pépé into the French Quarter she is assaulted by the emptiness of the streets and the power of straight lines. Pepe le Moko 1937. Most of the film is Pépé biding his time in the Casbah. Pépé Le Moko (1937) is a classic work of French crime cinema and a film that would prove to be very influential on filmmakers, gaining praise from noted directors, as well as inspired Hollywood remakes (Algiers in 1938, the musical Casbah in 1948), helped spawn beloved Warner Bros. toon Pepe Le Pew, and may be the reason Casablanca got made. In one exchange, he berates his vulgar minion Carlos for an act of wanton vandalism during a caper. Based on a 1931 novel by Détective Ashelbé (the acronym based nom de plume of Henri La Barthe), the film and its source material speak to the importance of crime stories in French culture. A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. Pépé le Moko can be read in many ways. 1 Further testament to Duvivier’s virtuosity comes from the great filmmaker Jean Renoir himself, who said that ‘If I were an architect and I had to build a monument to the cinema, I would place a statue of [Julien] Duvivier … His suggestion is greeted with scoffs. When he is told that Pépé is in the Casbah and thus unassailable, the newcomer threatens to go in there himself. In this register, Pépé le Moko works in the classroom as an example of French film noir. The scenes set in the French quarter, especially when Pépé finally leaves the Casbah, contrast Western rigidity, rationality, and industry with Eastern flexibility, chaos, and squalor. In Pépé le Moko, Gabin is a kind of Noble Savage: the equivalent of a robber chieftain, skilled and highly regarded, but still outside the pale of polite society. Prostitute: [with a defensive flash of anger] Don’t say it so loud! I must have first seen Pépé le Moko in a film club in Europe circa 1960 (and many times since), and already then gave it five out of five stars. Like the police, we wait for Pépé to leave the safety of the Casbah and enter the European section of Algiers where he will be vulnerable to arrest by the colonial state. The film was such a success that it was remade in the United States first as Algiers in 1938 and later as Casbah in 1948. Untranslated dialog from Arab, Berber, and Sub-Saharan African extras mixes with the occasional adhan from an off-screen muezzin to underline the place’s alterity. He purchases a ticket on the ship that will carry Gaby and her entourage back to France. Her confidence and strength vanish. September 1st 1998 Lucas Gridoux’s performance as Slimane drips with sexual frustration every time he nears Gabin’s Pépé. Set in the late 1980s, on the eve of the horrors of the Algerian Civil War (an Islamist uprising against the secular government), the film tells the story of a young baker who makes croissants all night but can’t sleep during the day because of a new loudspeaker attached to the mosque. The scene speaks volumes about empire as a white male fantasy. The Métro.” And then, in a famous exchange, they trade the names of metro stations until they meet at Place Blanche. Conversely, as the most significant Arab character, Slimane embodies native inferiority, weakness, and duplicity. [2] Indeed, Pépé le Moko is one of the finest articulations of the ultimate colonial fantasy, the ability of a white man to master a distant land and its exotic people. He clearly understood what made the … In her great BFI book on the film, Ginette Vincendeau says that Pépé le Moko does in fact offer ‘an anthology of camera angles and movements, editing, lighting and music then in use in the best of the French cinema, as well as of Duvivier’s virtuosity’. Rather it is the plain-spoken and honestly factual account of a Parisian crook’s exile in the vicious and sordid Casbah of Algiers, that notorious area of corruption and native depravity from which he is eventually drawn to his doom by love for a woman. In the end, Pépé’s longing for Paris, Gaby, and whiteness lures him out of the Casbah. Duvivier’s lighting and camera angles accentuate atmosphere of mystery and intrigue amidst Escher-like buildings. I´ve always been a fan of Gabin´s but my interest in him was revived by the ‘Jean Gabin: The Man With Blue Eyes’ retrospective curated by Edouard Waintrop at the 1919 Il Cinema Ritrovatto in Bologna, where aside from more familiar classics like Pépé le Moko (Julien … When Pépé meets Gaby, a gorgeous woman from Paris who is lost in the Casbah, he falls for her. In this section. ... Book Reviews ‘Luck of the Titanic’ review: Stacey Lee’s new novel offers a twist to a classic story Abby Petree May 11, 2021. Arguably, the city of Algiers is the real star of the film. He and his gang are supported by the entire community and can move through the mysterious urban geography at will. Blame it on the Casbah. Once again, the French colonial state fails to exercise its authority in the Casbah. She also reminds him of all the things he loves about Paris. In the performance that ensured his stardom, Gabin’s Pépé resembles later performances by Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. He knows police will be waiting for … This is not surprising as generations of viewers have been taken in by Jean Gabin’s iconic performance in this superbly crafted example of French film noir. Slimane: The boss. Refresh and try again. Don’t be angry. Indeed, the entire premise of the film rests on the Casbah as a place apart. Julien Duvivier, Director, Pépé le Moko, 1937, France, 94 min, Paris Film, Black and White, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5gKeQFMVw4. The shots Pépé and his French gang fire during a gun battle with the police are merely perfunctory, a weak and ineffective ritual they seem compelled to enact. You’re a different landscape. When Pépé gruffly calls him “my little beagle,” Slimane replies with a flirtatious “my little fox.” When the wounded gangster has difficulty smoking, Slimane slides his hands into Pépé’s pockets to gently retrieve his cigarettes and lighter. Here, he’s the caïd’s caïd. Be the first to ask a question about Pépé le Moko. Si innamora di una francese, una sofisticata donna di facili costumi, Gaby, che lo attira fuori dalla sua tana, nella città coloniale dove è possibile catturarlo. All the filthiness and vice of the Casbah are impressively shown in the film; there is no question at all about the ruthless wickedness of Pepe, and the woman who finally lures him into the open is obviously the mistress of another man.[1]. Taken together, Pépé le Moko, The Battle of Algiers, and Bab El-Oued City narrate the city’s historical transitions: from repressive empire through traumatic liberation and on to troubled independence. Pépé is immediately smitten by Gaby’s beauty and her whiteness. Their large office has shaded windows that reveal an exotic city drenched in powerful sunshine. His favorite is Inès, a gypsy. A … I was pretending to be asleep earlier. From the lighting to the dialog, Pépé le Moko is a cinematic treat. But curiously, this is a crime film without a crime or really any detective work. Lucas Gridoux explains precisely why the continental police are struggling to apprehend the notorious gangster Pepe. This melancholy is as explicitly gendered as it is racialized. According to the officer, some 40,000 people from three continents live in a filthy neighborhood fit for 10,000. The last line is delivered with what may be read as Slimane’s own sexual desire for Pépé. From the figure of the Apache to fantasies of a socially complex urban underworld, French popular culture and literature had embraced the genre. Slimane: When he’s killed, there will be 3,000 widows at his funeral. He feels trapped in the Casbah. In one scene he rages that it is his kingdom, but it is also his prison. Prod Co: Paris Film Prod: Robert Hakim, Raymond Hakim [both uncredited] Dir: Julien Duvivier Scr: Henri La Barthe, Julien Duvivier, Jacques Constant, based on the novel by Henri La Barthe [as Ashelbé]; dialogue by Henri Jeanson Phot: Marc Fossard, Jules Krüger Ed: Marguerite Beaugé Art Dir: Jacques Krauss Mus: Vincent … [5] American students might even recognize Gabin’s Pépé from cartoons about the famous amorous skunk, the butt of Francophobic jokes about sexually aggressive “Latin Lovers.” Like racist Disney offerings, they should provoke a strong discussion amongst students more attuned to the artifacts of rape culture. Betrayed by the wounded Inès, Pépé is arrested on the ship and marched in handcuffs back onto Algerian soil. Yet, even in this dream of empire, colonialism’s contradictions reveal white supremacy’s background anxieties and insecurities. And if the police should dare try to seize him, they will protect him. Welcome back. You’re beautiful and being with you is like being in Paris. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. The film captures the duality of the colonial city and displays what Gwendolyn Wright termed “the politics of design.”[8] Surprisingly, aside from some stock footage, Pépé le Moko was shot entirely on a soundstage in a Parisian suburb. Pépé le Moko (1937) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. On the surface, it’s a crime film. [4] Prefiguring Albert Camus’ Meursault and Michel Houellebecq’s despicable protagonists, it is initially unclear if Pépé is more interested in stealing his Parisian lover’s heart or ostentatious diamond necklace. Here at Goodreads, the editorial team can't escape books... To see what your friends thought of this book, Ginette Vincendeau is a French-born British-based academic who is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London. This film’s real value as a teaching tool lies in its Orientalism. If the inherent superiority of whiteness, of European identity, makes control of the colonial world possible, is this enough for Pépé or Kurtz? The first of two podcasts with the great Ginette Vincendeau on the great Jean Gabin. "Pepe Le Moko" (1937) directed by Julien Duvivier - is a wonderful movie with the great performance from very young Jean Gabin. Comparable to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Pépé le Moko is one of the most honest and unashamed examples of imperialism as a white male fantasy. As the now aged Frénel sings over a recording of her voice in her prime, the scene has a meta-narrative quality that ties a longing for Paris to melancholic reflections of lost youth. [9] In a fit of sleep-deprived rage, he pulls down the loudspeaker and throws it in the Mediterranean. But these are all aspects of film history that miss the true significance of Pépé le Moko. In the classic opening scene, we hear a Parisian police inspector berating his subordinate colleagues as the camera pulls away from a shot of a map of Algiers to show the white men sweating. Inspector Slimane (Lucas Gridoux) seeks a way to lure Pépé out of his refuge. Local Islamist youth are furious and seek revenge. Film Synopsis T he French outlaw Pépé le Moko has gained a reputation as the most notorious gangster in Algiers, loyally served by his band of armed cohorts. In the ensuing conflict, Allouache shows the ways in which the FLN state has failed to solve Algeria’s profound economic malaise and can’t maintain effective control over Algiers. Apart from one abortive police raid, a half-hearted shoot out, and two brief physical assaults on Arab informants, this crime film has no action scenes. Find out about international touring programmes. Let me go!” He then strides out of the Casbah and into the European Quarter. While he has all he could want in the Casbah, including the devoted and sultry Inès, he is unhappy. [3] Described as looking like an “anthill,” with its winding streets and staircases, terraces and interior courtyards, secret rooms and hidden passageways, the terrain is impossible to penetrate or control. Home » film » 1936 » Pépé le Moko Braccato dalla polizia, il pregiudicato Pépé le Moko si rifugia nella casbah di Algeri, un quartiere meticcio nel quale le autorità non osano entrare. They serve as his eyes and ears. The exquisite sets are all recreations. With his working-class background and cultivated image as a tough-guy on screen and off, Gabin brings his persona into the film and helps to blur the line between criminal and proletariat. Gather 'round because we're going to talk books. Pépé le Moko, one of France's most wanted criminals, hides out in the Casbah section of Algiers. In the Casbah, he is safe and is able to elude the police's attempts to capture him, but he misses his freedom after two years in the Casbah. But when Pépé is distraught, the mood of the Casbah sinks as well, becoming a dark, surly, and foreboding place of menace. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. Its architectural and demographic exoticism gives the film and its remakes a distinctive and unforgettable ambiance. With you, I escape, you see? Slimane assures the Europeans that he has a plan to lure Pépé out of the Casbah. Even as Pépé knows he is being trailed by Inspector … Indeed, when the police raid the Casbah, it goes poorly for them as Pépé easily eludes them. Pépé’s conquest is territorial, cultural, and sexual. She appears vulnerable and exposed, looking like a rodent or a crab in search of shelter in some nook or cranny. Not unlike Pépé and his gang, FLN militants use the same urban geography to elude French police and paratroopers. Pépé’s whiteness is so irresistible and so powerful that Algerian women and men take sensual pleasure in helping him. He meets a gorgeous Parisian tourist, Gaby, and they fall in love. 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. Pépé shoves her aside and mutters: “You’re a good kid. Pépé Le Moko nonetheless shows his considerable skills as a creator of marketable star vehicles. By the end of the film, we know that he has found a more profound, almost existential, reward in his lover’s arms. When Pépé meets Gaby Gould, a gorgeous woman from Paris who is lost in the Casbah, he falls for her. The reason that I am writing about it now is that in one of my recent dvd purchases of Femmes fatales from amazon, I found, a #2 of six movies with the following text: "Algiers by John Cromwell (1938, 98') - Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Chales Boyer, … He clearly accepts it as the natural state of affairs that France controls Algiers and the native quarter of the city is a “notorious” and filthy den of “vice,” “corruption,” and “native depravity.” While noting the compromised morals of the two white lead characters, he accepts the film’s presentation of the Casbah at face-value. He is the King of the Casbah, but also its prisoner – he has left a string of busted banks and dead policemen after him, and will go to the death house if he is ever taken. As they consider the risks of entering the Casbah, Inspector Slimane, an Algeria agent with access to the secretive world, quietly slides into the room and then takes control of the discussion. Pépé is a suave and sophisticated ladies’ man, but a drinker, and a wanted thief. Pépé le Moko è un gangster a capo di una banda di malviventi di Parigi; per cercare di sfuggire alla polizia francese si rifugia assieme ai suoi compagni nella casba di Algeri, dove può vivere al sicuro, grazie alla copertura degli abitanti del luogo e soprattutto di Inès, una ragazza follemente innamorata di lui. I let my mind wander. When Pépé tosses aside Inès, his exotic Gypsy lover, to pursue the fair-skinned Gaby, dressed in all her Parisian finery, it is a statement about his cultivated sense of taste. What is noteworthy in this review is the way in which Crother never questions the colonial context. This unrequited homoerotic lust confirms racist French stereotypes of North African men as effeminate closeted homosexuals as it reaffirms the Frenchman’s heteronormative identity. With Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin. Book a film for my cinema. Despite the seductive power of the colonial good life, real white men evidently long for Europe.
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