Casbah - Forbidden Alleys

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Movie
German title Casbah - Forbidden Alleys
Original title Casbah
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1948
length 82 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Berry
script L.Bush-Fekete
Arnold Manoff
production Nat C. Goldstone
music Walter Scharf
camera Irving Glassberg
cut Edward Curtiss
occupation

Casbah - Forbidden Alleys (original title Casbah ) is an American literary film adaptation directed by John Berry . Tony Martin plays Pepe le Moko, who heads a gang of jewel thieves and hides in the Casbah, a protected area in the old town of Algiers . The love for a woman, played by Marta Toren , makes him careless, which then becomes his undoing. Other leading roles are played by Yvonne De Carlo as Pepe's jealous friend Inez and Peter Lorre as Inspector Slimane. Erik Charell created the musical framework for this film adaptation.

It is a literary adaptation based on Henri La Barthe's novel Pépé le Moko ( Detective Ashelbe ), for which Leslie Bush – Fekete and Arnold Manoff wrote the screenplay. As early as 1936, Julien Duvivier filmed the story with Jean Gabin in the leading role under the title Pépé le Moko (German title Pépé le Moko - In the Dark of Algiers ) . In 1938 there was another film adaptation by John Cromwell under the title Algiers , in which Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr played the leading roles.

action

Louvain, the new police prefect of Algiers, is faced with the problem of having to arrest the notorious jewel thief Pepe Le Moko, who hides in the casbah of Algiers and is protected by the residents there. When he said that if necessary, he would set all 11,000 French police officers on the crook, replies Inspector Slimane, who is responsible for the district, that they could do nothing against the approximately 50,000 " bodyguards " who would support Pepe there By which he means the inhabitants, who are mostly composed of not exactly law-abiding citizens. Slimane has vowed that one day he would be able to catch Pepe. First of all, he smuggled Carlo into the neighborhood as an undercover agent . Carlo was once in a Paris prison together with Pepe and other people from the Casbah . Pepe is with Inez, a beautiful woman who runs a small tobacco shop. When Carlo turns up so unexpectedly, she meets him suspiciously, but Pepe doesn't want to know anything about it, because he trusts Carlo. When Pepe and his men rob the tourists that evening, many of whom had appeared in Odette's bar, Louvain's men were able to arrest him at short notice, but the support for him in the neighborhood and the resistance against the police officers was so great that Pepe after a very short time is free again. Shortly before, while dancing in Odette's bar, he had made the acquaintance of Gaby, who has a yacht in the harbor with her fiancé , and fell head over heels in love with the striking woman. This has not remained hidden from Slimane, who observed Pepe, and a plan slowly matures in his head. Gaby and Pepe spend the night together and only in the morning does the young woman return to the ship anchored in the harbor. Slimane wants to use Gaby to make Pepe leave the casbah and then he wants to strike. Gaby is even ready to live with Pepe in the casbah, Pepe, in turn, is ready to leave his sanctuary for her sake to start over with her. The young woman separates from her fiancé Claude and first moves into the Hotel Oasis. In the evening she has an appointment with Pepe, but is approached beforehand by Slimane, who tells her that Pepe has fallen victim to a jealous drama and is dead. Gaby then books a flight for the next day. When Pepe sees things through and Carlos realizes betrayal and his collaboration with Slimane, he forces his old friend to tell everyone the truth before killing him. He has to get to Gaby before she gets on her plane to Paris. And so Pepe leaves the protective casbah to rush to the airport. Inez, however, who cannot stand losing Pepe, tells Slimane where he is going. Just as Pepe is walking down the gangway to get on board, he sees Slimane trying to arrest him. Desperate, he runs a little faster to reach the machine after all, and he is shot. A deeply sad woman sits on the plane who has not noticed any of this.

background

The shooting took place from October 1947 to December 1947. The film premiered in the United States on April 2, 1948. The film was released in Austria on May 26, 1950 under the title Die Frauengasse von Algiers . It was first shown in cinemas in the Federal Republic of Germany on May 12, 1952.

This film marks her acting debut for the Swedish actress Marta Toren. According to The Hollywood Reporter , John Berry was loaned to Universal Pictures to direct the film. Producer Nat C. Goldstone and lead actor Tony Martin, who were the major shareholders of the independent production company Marston Pictures, which produced the film, sued Universal for damages at the time, arguing that the studio had done poor marketing for the film. In return, Paramount sued Marston Pictures, claiming that the film was too expensive to produce and that it failed to at least recoup the cost. Universal won the lawsuit and received $ 250,000 according to the verdict. The song " For Every Man There's a Woman ", composed or written by Harold Arlen and Leo Robin, was nominated in 1948 for an Academy Award. In addition to the already mentioned film adaptations of 1936 and 1938, another film was released in 1948, a satirical version of the story with the Italian comedian Totò .

For Erik Charell, who had also taken over the production management here, Casbah was one of his very few commitments in Hollywood.

Songs in the movie

  • For Every Man There's a Woman
  • Hooray for Love
  • It Was Written in the Stars
  • What's Good About Goodbye?

Reviews

The lexicon of international films summarized its verdict as follows: “Romantic gangster drama. Weaker remake of the classic French crime tragedy 'Pépé le Moko'. "

The New York Times was of the opinion that Tony Martin in the role of Pepe does not match the fire and strength of the French original Jean Gabin, although he sings well and also has some brilliant dance scenes and also raised the performance of Charles Boyer in 'Algiers 'as Tony Martin's predecessor. In both cases there is a comparison to Martin's disadvantage. The four new lively melodies by Harold Arlen and Leo Robin were praised. [...] The Swedish newcomer Marta Toren is beautiful, but a bit emotionless, while Yvonne De Carlo is also beautiful in her role and also acts a lot more soulfully. Peter Lorre's portrayal of the police inspector is said to be worthy of the achievements of his predecessors as Slimane. One sentence of the film is taken up as a rating for the role of Pepe: “I don't know what's so remarkable about Pepe.” Neither do we .

Awards

At the 1949 Academy Awards , Harold Arlen and Leo Robin were nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Song" category for their song For Every Man There's a Woman . The trophy went to Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for their song Buttons and Bows for the western comedy His Angel with Two Guns ( The Paleface ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Casbah (1948) - Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Accessed April 10, 2020 (English).
  2. ^ Casbah - Forbidden Alleys in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used . Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  3. ^ Casbah in The New York Times. Published May 3, 1948. Retrieved February 23, 2013.