French royalty Jean Gabin's signature role in this 1937 melodrama. Gabin lives in a seedy section of the Casbah in Algiers & is smart enough to stay amongst his own, knowing if he steps outside of his comfort zone, the cops will have him. The authorities known this as well as they take an opportunity to snatch him up when a French national goes missing in the Casbah & comes into Gabin's orbit where he thinks he can return home again as their relationship blossoms. If all of this sounds familiar, it does since Charles Boyer would remake the film (called Algiers) the following year. It's great to see where the original idea came from & since I'm very Gabin deficient (I did see The Grand Illusion), it's nice to trace the DNA of where the prototype began.
Review of Pépé le Moko
