Pépé le Moko (Im Dunkel von Algier)

Pépé, a gangster from Marseille, successfully goes into hiding in the labyrinthine Kasbah of Algiers while on the run from the French police. But his adversary, Inspector Slimane, sets a diabolical trap for Pépé when he learns of his weakness for the beautiful Parisian woman Gaby: After Slimane claims that her gangster boyfriend has been killed, Gaby wants to embark for France - and Pépé leaves his hiding place to stop her. With La bandera, the gifted stylist (and misanthrope) Julien Duvivier had made Jean Gabin a star shortly before, Pépé le Moko became the popular classic of their collaboration: a pessimistic-romantic epitome of poetic realism with motifs close to the US gangster film and set against an exotic backdrop. Despite studio shooting, Duvivier conjures up a believably intense atmosphere, a shadowy realm from which US remakes, films such as Casablanca and even the Looney Tunes skunk Pepe Le Pew grow up. (Christoph Huber)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum