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

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.

This is a really well done film that documents the true nature of the Casbah . A ghetto section of Algiers it was home to many peoples and religions , the most common theme was as a hideout for illegal activity and a haven for fugitives from justice somewhere in the world .The atmosphere is well done as a rather dank and dusty centuries old maze of connecting modules one leading to the other where only natives have a chance of navigating their way through .Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer) is a fugitive from France jewel thief who longs to be home , Sigrid Gurie his shadow who does anything for his love .And Hedy Lamarr as the beauty who swoops in and steals Pepe's heart and good sense .A very entertaining film to watch . Try it !

No, Charles Boyer never said, "Take me to the Casbah." That is just as false as "Play it again, Sam," a line from a film that will come to mind when watching this one.Boyer (Conquest, Fanny, Gaslight) picked up his second Oscar nomination for this film. He plays a jewel thief that has found a haven in the Casbah in French Algiers. He has a hot girlfriend in Sigrid Gurie, but he sees Hedy Lamarr and it is all over. he falls head over heels and spends languid afternoon reminiscing about a Paris that he can never see again.Director John Cromwell, who had his career ruined by McCarthy fascist in the 50s, did a very good job of presenting the excitement of the Casbah and the attempts by the French police to trap Boyer. He was ably assisted by the sets decorated by Alexander Toluboff (Stagecoach, Vogues of 1938) and the cinematography of James Wong Howe (The Rose Tattoo, Hud), who along with Toluboff received an Oscar nomination for this film, the first of ten in his career.Just like Kong, it wasn't man, but beauty killed the beast. In this case, the beauty of Hedy Lamarr proved to be the death of Boyer in an ending that will again remind one of Casablanca.