Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Algiers (1938)Take the teaming alleys of the old town of Algiers in North Africa, cramped and multi-national, filled with intentional mystery, and you have the basis of a great movie. A great, exciting, unique, visually gorgeous one.And it delivers on some of those scores. But why is it also a bit clumsy and forced all he way through? Two main reasons, I think. First, some of the secondary characters are comic caricatures (like Gene Lockhart), and as if to confirm this, they are given some silly lines as well. Second, the direction, under John Cromwell, which is clumsy and patchwork. Some of the most ordinary lines are delivered with avoidable awkwardness. I don't think Charles Boyer is a very convincing Arab kingpin, nor is the chief policeman from Paris a bit believable. All of this stacks the movie against its terrific setting.The highlight might actually be the simplest to understand--the photography by the great cameraman James Wong Howe. Right behind, but most accounts, is the presence of Hedy Lamarr as a kind of sophisticated femme fatale, bejeweled and bewitching. At least from the point of view of Boyer, who at one point is transfixed by her bracelet, her pearls, and her smile, in that order. The sure sign of a doomed man.The drama does become more intense, and both the police pressure and the crossed lovers percolate a bit. Boyer remains perplexing as the leading man, as if always aware he's the leading man more intent on being charming (in that 1930s French way) than playing the part of a supposed boss. And just wait for the scene where he breaks into song and everyone comes around to listen. Good thing the photography never relents--you can watch the movie for the visuals alone.I'm not sure what gives this movie its reputation, but I'll throw up a red flag against it. The exotic local, the mix of nationalities, the odd assortment of actors, and the central romance might make seem to presage Casablanca (in those ways) but the comparison ends there. Don't be discouraged by the first twenty minutes, which is the weakest part. By the end the mood has changed enough to work.If you're wondering, this is a low budget production from Walter Wanger, a year before he produced John Ford's "Stagecoach." And the filming occurred in Algiers itself, which is part of the interest. Give it whirl. Try to find a sharper version than the lousy one Netflix streams.

The exotic locale and mysterious characters invite the inevitable comparison to "Casablanca", though my reading of other reviews on this board would suggest that the more appropriate comparison to Bogart's film would be the French original, "Pepe le Moko". Since I haven't seen that one (at least yet), I'll have to confine my comments strictly to "Algiers".To my mind, the picture doesn't approach the all around sense of romantic intrigue offered by Bogey and Bergman, but in the interest of full disclosure, "Casablanca" is my favorite film of all time, so one could say I have some bias. Leonid Kinskey is but the thinnest of threads between the pictures, having appeared in both, and it's interesting how similar his mannerisms and affectations are here even though he's portraying an Arab. The film probably could have used more signature character types like Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains, because even though Pepe's goons seemed a rugged bunch, they just didn't appear charismatic enough for the Casbah, 'a melting pot for all the sins of the Earth'. I guess since I've seen Alan Hale and Gene Lockhart in so many other pictures, I couldn't shake the idea that they were just terribly miscast here.As for the ladies, Hedy Lamarr always succeeds in creating romantic tension in her films, but for my money (at least in this picture), Pepe needed to have his head examined for turning his back on Sigrid Gurie's Ines. I'm pretty sure 'smokin' hot' was never used to describe an actress in the Thirties, but it's the 2010's now, and that's how I see it. I get the whole business about Pepe feeling trapped for two years in the Casbah, and feeling lucky enough to make a break for it, but it didn't seem so bad that Ines was around to offer a shoulder and whatever else to ease the boredom.Anyway, I'll be putting in my request at the local library for a copy of "Pepe le Moko" to compare and contrast as other reviewers have done. On balance though, "Algiers" has it's merits as an intriguing story with an exotic flair. Given the finale, one is led to consider that if Mister Rick and Ilsa Lund would always have Paris, the story of Pepe and Gaby leads one to ask what might have been.

This is a great movie well worth watching. The interaction between the leads, Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr, is nothing short of beautiful.Other people have described the plot, the setting, and the great photography, so I will skip that. Some have written here that Algiers compares well to "Casablanca." I can't agree with that. This movie doesn't have the heroism, the larger than life situation, the love triangle. For that reason, I can't rate it more than 8 (while I rate Casablanca a 10+).As has also been noted here, Algiers is a remake of the French movie "Pepe Le Moko". I have not seen that movie. I'm sure I will someday. Some people have written that the French movie is better, and that the lead actor there, Gabin, is more believable as a gangster. That may well be true; I will not argue it. It doesn't matter. Boyer is excellent here. His personna is completely believable to me, and, frankly, I don't much care how closely he matches authentic French gangsters. No wonder so may female movie fans fell in love with him! The movie is made even more appealing by the secondary characters. Gene Lockart's informer is well acted. Joseph Calleia does a great job as the "native" detective who has easy access to the Casbah. Sigrid Gurie is great as the jealous courtesan. Alan Hale Sr. is great as the witty erudite criminal. The rough fellow who always says "OK" was fun. I also enjoyed the slim bodyguard dressed in white who never said anything; not sure which actor this is.If there is a flaw, it is maybe an overall dearth of intensity. Maybe this is a question of evolving movie-making style, a difference of eras. I think we expect criminals these days to show a lot of anger, to hear a lot of nasty snarling dialogue. You aren't going to hear that in this movie.And frankly I don't care because this is not a crime drama, it's a tragic love story. Which brings us to the main reason to see this movie. Hedy Lamarr. What can I say? "Wow" is hardly sufficient. "Holy @#!&%" doesn't help much. Of all the beautiful actresses there have been, of all the kinds of beauty -- cute, girl-next-door, classic, sultry, innocent, exotic, hot, mysterious, haughty, bombshell, va-va-voom, ethereal -- Hedy Lamarr had the best. No she didn't have the sexiest body; she was actually a little thin. She wasn't the oh-so-appealing cute type like Meg Ryan, or the sexy bombshell like Marilyn Monroe, or the exotic Greta Garbo. This is pure human female beauty. And it's not just some portrait or statue. She speaks, she smiles, she moves. There are at least three scenes of conversations with Charles Boyer that I just can't watch often enough. By direction or not, she slightly underacts. It's been said that she really wasn't that good at acting. Could be; again, who cares? She communicates plenty to me.So applaud it for the plot, the photography, the great secondary characters, the wonderful Charles Boyer. And drink a toast to Hedy Lamarr.

After reading several of the comments on this one my immediate reaction was they've got to be kidding; to give them a break it appears that most of them hadn't seen the great Duvivier movie Pepe Le Moko which was released the previous year. We tend to think of Hollywood retreads of French Classics as something comparatively new but they were at it seventy years ago and they've yet to equal let alone eclipse even one French original. Adding insult to injury the credits nowhere mention that this in fact is virtually a scene-for- scene, shot-for-shot remake with the odd minor change here and there - like the ending and omit all mention of the great Henri Jeanson who supplied the dialogue for the original classic. The only thing that Charles Boyer and Jean Gabin had in common was that both were French; Gabin was, at times, a cross between Bogie and Cagney whilst Boyer is a cross between a second-rate baritone and Narcissus. Okay, it's well shot and some of the support is out of the right bottle but all of that applies to the original plus, of course, the definitive Pepe in Gabin. Like the man said, if it ain't broke ...