Film Masters Selects July 29 For The Release Of A Limited Edition Blu-ray Of Director John Cromwell's Algiers

Film Masters announced that July 29 will be the street date for a new Blu-ray Limited Edition of director John Cromwell’s Algiers, starring Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie, Gene Lockhart and introducing Hedy Lamarr — of Ecstasy fame — in her American film debut.

Producer Walter Wanger loved French filmmaker Julien Duvivier’s 1937 film adaptation of Henri La Barthe’s 1936 novel, Pepe le Moko, so much that he bought it and set about to remake it for American audiences.  

This wasn’t going to be a strictly studio-bound production.  Instead, Algiers was going to be big and authentic.   To that end, special effects wiz and cameraman Lloyd Knechtel (already in Europe) was hired and dispatched to Algiers to shoot extensive background footage for the film, which was shipped to the Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank.   

Legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe then matched his studio footage with the location shots and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was so impressed with Howe’s work that they nominated him for an Oscar (his first … during his career he would be nominated nine more times, winning for The Rose Tattoo in 1956, Hud in 1964 and Funny Lady in 1976).

Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer) is a master jewel thief hiding out in The Casbah who lives by his wits.  As cunning as he is, he will ultimately be tripped up by his love for Gaby (Lamarr).

Walter Wanger’s Algiers had its world premiere at the 4 Star Theatre on Wilshire near La Brea on July 13, 1938 and publicity was nothing short of sensational.   The Los Angeles Evening Citizen News said of the film, “Anticipated as the best picture ever produced by Wanger.” 

The next morning film critic Edwin Schallert in the Los Angeles Times said of the film’s stars, “Boyer brings a genuine fervor to his portrayal which is far reaching, and Miss LaMarr (sic) a consummate loveliness, which may entitle her to stardom.”  May entitle her to stardom?   

Just a side note, on the same page that Schallert’s review ran, there was a two paragraph piece announcing that Walt Disney’s “full-length cartoon film” was being held over for a third week at the Pantages in Hollywood.   So, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a “cartoon film” … I guess the concept of an animated feature film hadn’t quite entered the lexicon in the summer of 1938!

In addition to James Wong Howe’s Best Cinematography nomination, Algiers received three additional Oscar nominations — Charles Boyer for Best Actor, Gene Lockhart for Best Supporting Actor and Alexander Toluboff for Best Art Direction (he was also nominated in the same category in 1937 for Vogues of 1938 and in 1939 for Stagecoach).

Bonus features included with this Blu-ray Limited Edition of Algiers from Film Masters on July 29 are commentary from Karie Bible, famed tour guide at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and host of “Hollywood Kitchen,” who is joined by film historian Roy Windham (“Hedy Lamarr in Bombshell: The Hedy Lemarr Story) and liner notes written by Windham.