“Come with me to the Casbah.” If you’re familiar with this line, you might associate it with Pepé le Pew, the romantic French skunk from Warner Bros. Looney Tunes. Pepé frequently said the line to the object of his affections, a black and white cat whom he mistook for a female skunk. This amorous stinker was based on Charles Boyer, particularly in MGM’s exotic drama “Algiers” from 1938.
An Exotic Story
This whole story takes place in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, and much of the action centers on the city’s native quarter, the Casbah. The film begins with the arrival from Paris of Police Commissioner Janvier (Paul Harvey), who is outraged that wanted jewel thief Pépé le Moko (Boyer) has escaped arrest for the two years he’s been in Algiers. Inspector Slimane (Joseph Calleia), who is on the case, explains that although he sees the sly criminal every day, he can’t arrest him as long as he stays in the Casbah because it would be impossible to get him out with all his friends in the native quarter. Although Slimane has also become friends with Pépé, he knows that he will eventually catch him if he just waits for him to come out of the Casbah.Meanwhile, the infamous thief is becoming increasingly restless trapped in the Casbah. He dreams of returning to Paris, but he knows that attempting to leave the city will cost him his freedom and maybe his life. Among his many criminal confederates is Pierrot (Johnny Downs), a young man who is one of his closest friends, and Regis (Gene Lockhart), a secret police informer whom Pépé instinctively mistrusts. Pépé has a possessive sweetheart named Ines (Sigrid Gurie), but she doesn’t fully understand him.
We’ll Always Have Paris
Before Humphrey Bogart told Ingrid Bergmann, “We’ll always have Paris,” Pépé le Moko and Gaby dreamed of The City of Lights while trapped in a North African city. Although the 1942 wartime romance completely eclipsed the earlier movie, “Casablanca” was Warner Bros.’ answer to MGM’s “Algiers.” It’s true that the Academy Award-winning classic which introduced “As Time Goes By” was based on an unproduced play called “Everybody Comes to Rick’s.” However, according to IMDb’s trivia on the film, “Algiers” inspired the title, if not the concept, of “Casablanca.”“Algiers” presented similar problems during production, content-wise, as “Casablanca.” In case you’re not familiar with the system for regulating film content during the 1930s-50s, this was long before the modern rating system, which wouldn’t be introduced until 1968. Instead of classifying movies based on their age-appropriateness, the American film industry collaborated with the Production Code Administration (PCA) throughout each movie’s production to ensure it followed the guidelines of the Motion Picture Production Code. The Code detailed basic standards of common decency, which, when followed, produced movies which were not only entertaining and intelligent but wholesome enough for all ages to enjoy. Unfortunately, this Golden Era only lasted from 1934-1954, during the twenty years when Joseph I. Breen was in charge of the PCA.
Into the Casbah
This story is very intense and dramatic, but the main focus is its exotic beauty. Everything about it is deliberately foreign. The two leading actors have rich European accents, and they speak of their mutual love for their homeland, France. As war was beginning to percolate in Europe in the late 1930s, Americans could share the couple’s wistful longing to return to a lost Paris. This message was much closer to home four years later, when “Casablanca” came out, since the United States had joined the war. Maybe that’s part of the reason why the later film was even more successful.Despite all the intensity and dark subject matter, the focus of this story is romance. Its score struck me as sounding like the background music to a silent film made in the late 1920s with a synchronized soundtrack. Perhaps that is because the main theme and the music played during the end credits are from the 1937 French film of the same name. The sweet, playful melodies are a painfully beautiful accompaniment to the story of the doomed lovers.
“Algiers” may not be a happily ever after story, but it is a very beautiful film.