Casbah

If you don't recall seeing this featured in any of the "That's Entertainment" anthologies, it's because this black-and-white postwar romance with songs is considerably darker and more sophisticated than the usual Hollywood musical. A considerable improvement over the 1938 Americanization of "Pepe Le Moko," the logy Charles Boyer vehicle "Algiers," this not only integrates a few well-chosen musical numbers featuring Martin, Yvonne de Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dancers into the old story, but adds a refreshing note of humor and playfulness. Martin isn't bad at all as the surly, sexy gangster Pepe, who was always one-dimensional anyway. Peter Lorre is the dream Slimane that he should have played ten years earlier in the Boyer film (though Lorre's often credited as being in "Algiers," it was actually Joseph Calleia who played Slimane in that film), and Marta Toren's bittersweet siren is seductively reminiscent of Valli in "The Third Man."

This strange little item is a remake of the 1938 film "Algiers" which starred Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr, which itself was a remake of a French film of the previous year, called "Pepe LeMoko." The 1938 version made stars of Boyer and Lamarr; Tony Martin (who was married to dancer Cyd Charisse) and Marta Toren were not so lucky. Both were physically attractive enough but lacked the panache and charisma to capture the movie going public's loyalty. DeCarlo held her own in the film in a secondary role in a period when Universal was trying to figure out what to do with her -- the camp era was over -- no more "Salome" or "Sheherazade" for her. She did some fine work in film noir during this time -- "Brute Force" and "Criss Cross" in particular. (If you look real close at the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe -- you might spot a young dancer named Eartha Kitt who made quite a name for herself a bit later, as a singer.)

Wrong headed semi musical remake of Algiers which is missing all the ingredients that made the first film stand out. Whoever thought that Tony Martin(?!) could be an acceptable substitute for Charles Boyer was seriously misguided or just plain crazy. While he has a fine singing voice he has zero screen presence so starting out the film has a black hole at it's center. Then there's Marta Toren in the Hedy Lamaar role, while she is certainly lovely she does not possess that elusive star quality which Hedy, although a spotty actress, had in spades. Yvonne de Carlo, an effective actress when properly cast, seems a natural for the Hedy Lamaar role but is wasted in a secondary part although top billed. Peter Lorre is the best thing here but he is similarly underused. All in all a throughly forgettable enterprise.

Pepe le Moko (Tony Martin) is wanted by the French and local police in Algeria where he has his hideout in the Casbah. However in order to get him, the police have to infiltrate the Casbah to bring him in. Casbah is the Algerian word for fortress and that is the problem that the police have. They have 2 approaches - Louvain (Thomas Gomez) takes a direct route by storming in and arresting him - this fails as it has on every occasion before - because everyone in the Casbah is on Pepe's side and he always escapes. Slimane (Peter Lorre) from the local police is more streetwise and befriends Pepe while maintaining that he will one day arrest him. The 2 opposite thinking inspectors need to collude to bring him out of the Casbah in order to make the arrest. They do this by sending an old prison-friend Carlo (Douglas Dick) to betray him and lure him out with a love interest Gaby (Marta Toren).

Yvonne de Carlo who plays Inez, Pepe's girlfriend, is my favourite of the cast with Peter Lorre and Thomas Gomaz also standing out. Yvonne de Carlo also manages to pull off singing her song and turns it into one of the memorable scenes as she mocks Pepe's behaviour in it. The other moments of singing are not necessary with Tony Martin bursting randomly into song and providing moments of hilarity as he does so - "Oh no - he's singing again. What for?"

This film has a great setting and it's a shame that the two lead women did not have a scene together where they could confront each other. There is some crazy chicken-killing voodoo ritual dancing that is also thrown into the mix and despite the ending being utterly unconvincing, this is an enjoyable film.

I was 15 when I first saw this film. Tony Martin played Pepe le Moko. I wanted to be like him. Because when you're 15 you think of how lucky you must be to play opposite beautiful girls such as Yvonne De Carlo and Marta Toren. These three actor/actresses had much more talent than they were given credit for. Tony seems cast perfectly as the gangster, yet no director gave him another chance in that type of roll. Unfortunately the gorgeous Marta Toren died several years later. But Yvonne carried on, appearing in other good films and the Munsters TV series. I hear she is now living in California. Good luck to her. Thanks for the memories (especially Casbah)