Wednesday, September 04, 2019

Algiers (1938) Movie Review


Algiers (1938)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029855/mediaviewer/rm3536917504

This review was written by Angelica, an 8th grade student in Mr. Chamberlain's Film Class.
The film Algiers come out in 1938. It is directed by John Cromwell. The screenwriter is John Howard Lawson and the Screenplay is by James M. Cain. The film focuses on Pepe le Moko, Ines, and Gaby who are played by Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, and Sigrid Gurie.
Pepe le Moko is a thief who escaped from France with lots of jewels. He has been hiding in a a maze-like impenetrable casbah for two years. The police have failed to capture him during the two years. Having a sly inspector who is is friends with Pepe le Moko hasn't made it any better.
During the time Pepe has been in the casbah he has thought of it more as a prison which he can't get away from. He misses Paris, so when a girl named Inis who is from Paris shows up, he takes an interest in her upsetting his girlfriend Gaby who is from the casbah which he hopes to get away from, resulting in a sort of love triangle.
The films techniques are different than modern times now. It was in black and white and the setting was very dark. The lighting focused on the important things leaving the rest dark.
Overall this film gets a rating of 6.7 out of 10 on IMBD.
I would recommend this film if you like an old fashioned drama/mystery/romance film.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

this class is awsome

Anonymous said...

It took awhile for a copy to be available at my library, but I got the chance to watch this today! You’re so right about Pepe feeling like he was in prison despite being free. It was interesting how the movie relied on our imagination to complete the scenes when someone was shot. It worked. But, I wonder if it worked as well for an audience in 1938. Does the graphic detail of our movies today help our imagination as we watched this film? Anyway, what a great class. Wishing I could have done projects like this when I was in school!