Pepe Le Moko DVD

A film by Julien Duviver

Arguably one of the most influential films of all time, Julien Duvivier's masterpiece Pepe le Moko is a triumph of classical French cinema, and the break out role for superstar Jean Gabin. Notorious gangster Pepe le Moko is a criminal mastermind. Having eluded the French authorities and disappeared into the Algerian Casbah, he has escaped capture for over two years thanks to the Casbah's labyrinthine alleys and the love and generosity of its inhabitants. Although the French police have sent in several spies to monitor Pepe's movements, he is untouchable. However, of late the once-welcome shelter of the Casbah has felt increasingly like a prison, and the lure of gay Paris with its wide open streets has become almost unbearable. And when Pepe meets the glamourous Gaby, his homesickness reaches unfathomable heights. The stylistic forerunner to film noir, Pepe le Moko is at once a thrilling, dramatic and aesthetically innovative crime story set in the exotic underworld of 1930s Algiers.