Pépé le Moko
1937
Director: Julien Duvivier
Starring: Jean Gabin (be still my heart), Lucas Gridoux, Mireille Balin, Line Noro
Before American filmmakers started to sink their gritty, grimy teeth into film noir, that most beloved genre of mine, there was Pépé le Moko. So much of the essence of noir is painted across this picture, a full five years before the first official noirs started being made by Hollywood. This, right here, this is a turning point towards everything that noir would become. The nihilism, the doomed and fatally flawed hero, the temptation, the world of crime versus law and order… it’s all there. And, just like nearly every noir I’ve ever seen, the first time I saw this film about five years ago, it was okay. I was not bowled over. When I recently rewatched it, I found it so much more enjoyable, so much more inspiring. Noir grows on you, and Pépé le Moko is no exception.
Pépé (Gabin), our titular character, is the gangster lord of the Casbah in Algiers. The police are desperate to get their hands on him for multiple armed robbery counts, but the Casbah cannot be penetrated. As long as he is there, he is secure. A clever cop (Gridoux), though, knows that if he waits long enough, Pépé will slip up and leave the safety of the Casbah. No sooner are these words spoken when temptation arises in the form of lovely young Gaby (Balin), a Parisian tourist. Pépé longs to leave Algiers and return to Paris with her, but he also knows what waits for him beyond the shelter of the Casbah.
