Pepe Le Moko leads a gang of jewel thieves in the Casbah of Algiers, where he has exiled himself to escape imprisonment in his native France.
| Tagline | Den of a thousand thieves ! Rendezvous for romance ! |
| Release Date: | Apr 01, 1948 |
| Genres: | Music, Crime |
| Production Company: | Marston Productions, Universal International Pictures |
| Production Countries: | United States of America |
| Casts: | Yvonne De Carlo, Tony Martin, Peter Lorre, Märta Torén, Hugo Haas, Thomas Gomez, Douglas Dick, Herbert Rudley, Virginia Gregg, Curt Conway, Barry Bernard |
| Status: | Released |
| Budget: | $0 |
| Revenue: | 0 |
This is an odd film to watch, this one. Essentially it appears to be a post war vehicle for successful actor/crooner Tony Martin ("Pepe le Moko"), but somewhere along the line director John Berry loses his way with this hybrid of romantic musical - there are half a dozen numbers from Harold Arlen and Leo Robin, including the Oscar nominated "For Every Man There's a Woman" - mixed in with a lightweight crime-noir scenario fronted by policeman Peter Lorre ("Slimane"). The confusion isn't really helped by some indifferent writing and even a glamorous, sultry performance from Yvonne de Carlo ("Inez") fails to get the thing moving with any direction or impetus. Lorre is good, doing what he always did well - a sort of hot, sweaty, weasel in a suit - and the setting of the law-unto-itself Casbah in Algiers where his quarry is protected ought to have helped create a bit of menace, mystery at least, too - but, no, sorry - this is just an average film held up by some fine tunes.
