Pépé le Moko (1937)

Pépé le Moko

Medium: Film
Director: Julien Duvivier
Country: France
Released: 1937
First Consumed: May 16, 2012
Format: Hulu Streaming
Rating: 8.5/10

Criterion Collection spine #172

Criterion curates a weekly slate of similarly-themed movies on Hulu. This week they've rounded up six of Jean Gabin's classic roles in celebration of his 108th birthday tomorrow. Pepe, in which he plays a gangster hiding in the Algerian Casbah, was apparently the film that made him a star, and it's easy to see why. He's charming, handsome, witty, and he dominates almost every single frame of the film. Even without Duvivier's elegant direction, and the great supporting turns from Lucas Gridoux, as the slimy detective trying to smoke him out, and Gabriel Gabrio, as Pepe's prideful, yet dumb partner, the film could easily coast on Gabin. Remove him, and you have those aforementioned aspects as well as a flimsy romance that fails to justify the film's final act.