Algiers (1938)

kbroer
Oct 20, 2023
2 min read

Hedy Lamarr, Charles Boyer

Directed by John Cromwell

Available to stream on Amazon Prime

Our next film features "Famous Beauty" Hedy Lamarr, often considered to be the most beautiful actress of Hollywood's Golden Era.

In this classic, French jewel thief Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer), living in the Casbah section of Algiers, evades the police until he falls in love with beautiful Parisian Gaby (Hedy Lamarr), and emerges from hiding to escape with her to Paris.

Why we love it: Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr are a glamorous couple and they, along with good supporting actors and atmospheric cinematography, make this a very watchable classic drama.

Fun facts:

This was Viennese Hedy Lamarr’s first Hollywood movie. She had appeared in a few German films and was especially known for her role in the 1932 Czech film Ecstasy where she scandalously appeared in the nude, which caused the film to be banned in the US.

ree — Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr in Algiers

In addition to being a famous beauty and actress, Hedy Lamarr was also an inventor. At the beginning of World War II, she and her friend, composer George Antheil, patented a secret communication system using frequency hopping as a way to prevent US torpedoes from being detected by the Germans. The idea wasn't used at the time, but was implemented later during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was the foundation for many types of communication technologies. In 1997 Hedy was awarded the Pioneer Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and in 2014 she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. For more about their invention, read this article or watch the documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story on Netflix.

Below is a copy of the patent issued to Lamarr (under her real name Hedy Keisler Markey) and George Antheil in 1942 (from uspto.gov).

The cartoon character Pepe le Pew was a spoof of Charles Boyer's character Pepe le Moko as seen below in a clip from "The Cats Bah."

Algiers is a remake of a successful French film Pepe Le Moko starring Jean Gabin that had just been released in 1937. Most of the shots of the Casbah and a lot of the musical score are taken directly from the original French film.

The film was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Actor (Charles Boyer), and Best Supporting Actor (Gene Lockhart).

For reviews of the movie from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured cocktail:

Bee’s Knees

A gin sour made with honey instead of sugar, the Bee’s Knees is a smoother, subtler cocktail. Definitely a Prohibition era drink, the honey and lemon were used in stronger proportions then to mask the taste of inferior homemade “bathtub” gin.