Pépé le Moko

Pépé le Moko
Directed by	Julien Duvivier
Written by	Jacques Constant (adaptation) Henri Jeanson (dialogue)
Screenplay by	Julien Duvivier Henri La Barthe
Produced by	Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim
Starring	Jean Gabin
Cinematography	Marc Fossard Jules Kruger
Edited by	Marguerite Beaugé
Music by	Vincent Scotto Mohamed Ygerbuchen
Distributed by	Arthur Mayer & Joseph Burstyn (USA, 1941) The Criterion Collection (Region 1 DVD, 2004)
Release dates	28 January 1937 (1937-01-28) (France) 3 March 1941 (1941-03-03) (US)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Pépé le Moko [pe.pe lə mo.ko] is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin.

The film depicts a gangster nicknamed Pépé le Moko. Moko is slang for a man from Toulon, derived from the Occitan amb aquò ("with that"), a term which punctuates sentences in Provence and which, in Toulon, is pronounced em'oquò.

The film is based on Henri La Barthe's novel of the same name, and La Barthe contributed to the screenplay under the pseudonym "Détective Ashelbé". Pépé le Moko is an example of the 1930s French movement known as poetic realism, which combines gritty realism with occasional flashes of unusual cinematic tricks. The film is often considered an early predecessor of film noir.

Plot

Pépé le Moko (Jean Gabin), a criminal on the run from the police in metropolitan France, lives in the Casbah quarter of Algiers, where he is out of reach of the local police. Inspector Slimane (Lucas Gridoux) seeks a way to lure Pépé out of his refuge. He sees his chance when he learns that Pépé is in love with Gaby (Mireille Balin), the mistress of a rich businessman. Slimane leads Gaby to believe that Pépé has been killed. Gaby, who was on the point of joining him in his hiding place, now agrees to stay with her rich lover. When Pépé is informed that Gaby is about to leave Algiers for good he leaves the Casbah to find her and is arrested.

Cast

• Jean Gabin as Pépé le Moko
• Gabriel Gabrio as Carlos
• Mireille Balin as Gaby Gould, the beautiful Parisienne
• Saturnin Fabre as Le Grand Père
• Fernand Charpin as Régis
• Lucas Gridoux as Inspecteur Slimane
• Gilbert Gil as Pierrot
• Marcel Dalio as L'Arbi
• Charles Granval as Maxime
• Gaston Modot as Jimmy
• René Bergeron as Inspecteur Meunier

• Paul Escoffier as Chief Inspecteur Louvain
• Roger Legris as Max
• Jean Témerson as Gravèr
• Robert Ozanne as Gendron
• Philippe Richard as Janvier
• Georges Péclet as Barsac
• Line Noro as Inès
• Fréhel as Tania
• Olga Lord as Aïcha
• Renée Carl as La mère Tarte

Critical reception

English author Graham Greene in a review of the film stated "One of the most exciting and moving films I can remember seeing... Raises the thriller to a poetic level!" According to a BBC documentary, it served as inspiration for Greene's acclaimed novel The Third Man.

Remakes

The film was remade in America in 1938 as Algiers, starring Hedy Lamarr and Charles Boyer, and again in 1948 as Casbah, a musical starring Tony Martin, Märta Torén, Yvonne de Carlo, and Peter Lorre.

External links

• Pépé le Moko at IMDb
• Pépé le Moko at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pépé le Moko at Metacritic
• Pépé le Moko at AllMovie
• Criterion Collection essay by Michael Atkinson