Pepe Le Moko
The quality that I most appreciated in this film was its comparisons to the film noir genre. The opening sequences give this away right off the bat. We are taken to a darkened room with men in business ware, who are all fast talking and I think I recall some of them smoking. This is a typical mise-en-scene for a gangster film set up, offices and important men talking business. This enables a sense of power to be distributed to whichever character, and it helps the audience catch up with the plotline. If you look closely in this scene, you can also see harsh lighting. The main officers are front lit so much so, that huge shadows are projected onto the walls behind them. This is another way to show who has the upper hand.
Another sequence towards the beginning shows Pepe being chased, and there is a shot that starts close up on a barred window and pulls away slowly, then the shadow of a gun enters on the right. The shadow effects are very gangster style. Something else I think we can associate with the film noir genre is the femme fatale stock character. This is a strong, seductive woman who leads the hero to his ultimate demise. She lures him in with her flashy jewelry, but he stays in her trance because of her connection to Paris. Gabby has a psychological hold on Pepe, because he longs for his old life back in Paris, and she embodies that past life of his. He would rather take his own life at the end of the film, than live it without Gabby.
One difference to the film noir genre that I noticed was the lack of violence. Other gangster films have lots of scenes with grotesque murders, bloodied characters, Tommy guns, etc. I think that this particular aspect was intended to be left out, at least for the Pepe character. There is another revealing scene where we see more into the deeper side of Pepe when he leaves Gabby one night, and one of his henchmen asks him if he got her jewels. Before he met Gabby, stealing jewels was a real pleasure of his, but now that he knows Gabby, he has a purpose in life again, and does not even think about taking her diamonds and pearls. We see that he does have a sensitive side, and he can be a loving individual. The feelings he develops for Gabby and his long lost Paris end up costing him his life though.
