How Algiers Inspired Casablanca

I absolutely love old movies, and not long ago I watched Algiers. I'd read about it, and learned a few facts, such as the line "Come wiz me to ze casbah," wasn't even in the film, and even though Charles Boyer wanted Heddy Lamarr to star alongside him after meeting her at a party, he didn't realize she couldn't act. That subsequently caused some stress during filming. Also, the character Pepe le Moko inspired Looney Tunes Pepe Le Pew.

What I didn't realize is that Algiers, though not a big hit, inspired Casablanca, one of the greatest movies ever made, and one of my all-time favorites! It was even developed with Heddy Lamarr in mind for the lead. She was an otherworldly beauty, but Ingrid Bergman, the earthly beauty who eventually played the part was a brilliant actress. I can't imagine Casablanca without Ingrid Bergman or Humphrey Bogart!

Sidenote on Heddy Lamarr:  Though she was a great beauty who became a superstar, she wasn't a great actress and didn't exude personality from the screen. However, she was highly intelligent and is credited with developing Bluetooth technology! (How Hollywood Star Hedy Lamarr Invented the Tech Behind WiFi)

Algiers centers around French thief Pepe le Moko on the run from the French authorities. Perhaps if my sleuths Tracy Black and Adam Slade had been around, they could have captured him long before the French officials arrived. Check out their Black OOps Mystery adventures Cad to Cadaver and Growler to Grave! 

Now, let's take a look at Casablanca Never Would Have Happened Without This Forgotten 1938 Movie, an article from Screen Rant:

In 1938, the drama movie Algiers was released. Directed by John Cromwell, Algiers follows Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer), a thief who after his last great heist escaped from France to Algeria. Pepe became a resident and leader of the Casbah of Algiers, and while French officials arrived to capture him, Pepe was starting to feel trapped in his prison-like stronghold. The feeling got stronger after meeting Gaby (Hedy Lamarr), a beautiful woman visiting from France, but his love for her sparked the jealousy of his Algerian mistress, Ines (Sigrid Gurie).

Algiers was Lamarr’s American debut, and it received four nominations at the Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography), but it’s most notable for inspiring Casablanca. Although Algiers wasn’t a big hit, the studio liked the idea and wanted to give the concept another try, hence the narrative and thematic similarities between Algiers and Casablanca. The latter was reportedly named in reference to the former, and it was written specifically for Hedy Lamarr to star. However, as Lamarr was under contract with MGM, the studio refused to release her, and Ingrid Bergman was cast in the lead role.

Both Algiers and Casablanca have love triangles, at least one character on the run, and cynical lead male characters thanks to Pepe le Moko and Rick Blaine. Pepe and Rick were also reminded of what they used to have and no longer can through their romances with Gaby and Ilsa, respectively, and both women were already in relationships with other men – Gaby had a fiancé, while Ilsa was married to Laszlo, who she thought had died when she met Rick.

Thanks to Casablanca being inspired by Algiers, it also owes everything it is and will be to the 1937 French movie Pépé le Moko. Directed by Julien Duvivier and based on the novel of the same name by Henri La Barthe, Pépé le Moko is an example of the French movement of poetic realism from the 1930s, and it was not only remade as Algiers, but it got a second remake in 1948 as Casbah, a film noir musical starring Yvonne De Carlo, Tony Martin, Märta Torén, and Peter Lorre (who also appeared in Casablanca as Signor Ugarte). The character of Pépé le Moko also inspired the Looney Tunes character Pepé Le Pew, who was introduced in 1945.

While Pépé le Moko is one of the most influential French films in history, and Casablanca one of the greatest films ever made (and both inspiring other movies and characters), Algiers has been mostly forgotten. Even though Algiers was recognized by the Academy and other organizations, its only legacies are introducing Hedy Lamarr to the American audience and making Casablanca happen.

Have you ever seen Casablanca or Algiers? Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend! 

Hawaii Five-O

Thought I'd travel back in time today and feature another one of my favorite cop shows from yesteryear. 

Perhaps this was another inspiration for me to write my new detective series, Black OOps. Please check out Cad to Cadaver and Growler to Grave, written under my pen name Marissa Allen.

Hawaii Five-O was a fun show, although I don't remember enjoying it quite as much as Mannix or The Man From Uncle. However, it was truly a show with staying power! I didn't realize how long it aired until I looked it up to prepare this post. Hawaii Five-O aired from 1968 to 1980, twelve years!

A new version of the show aired in 2010 and ran for three seasons. I watched one episode for about five minutes. To me, the new version just couldn't compare with the original.

If you're not old enough to remember Hawaii Five-O, here's the lowdown from Wikipedia:

Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s.

Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett

For 12 seasons, McGarrett and his team hounded international secret agents, criminals, and organized crime syndicates plaguing the Hawaiian Islands. With the aid of District Attorney and later Hawaii's Attorney General John Manicote, McGarrett was successful in sending most of his enemies to prison... Most episodes of Hawaii Five-O ended with the arrest of criminals and McGarrett snapping, "Book 'em."... In many episodes, this was directed to

Danny Williams and became McGarrett's catchphrase, "Book 'em, Danno." 
The Five-O team consisted of three to five members...and was portrayed as occupying a suite of offices in the Iolani Palace... Five-O lacked its own radio network, necessitating frequent requests by McGarrett to the Honolulu Police Department dispatchers, "Patch me through to Danno." McGarrett's tousled yet immaculate hairstyle, as well as his proclivity for wearing a dark suit and tie on all possible occasions...rapidly entered popular culture. While the other members of Five-O also "dressed mainland" much of the time, they also often wore local styles, such as the ubiquitous "Aloha shirt."

In many episodes...McGarrett was drawn into the world of international espionage and national intelligence. McGarrett's nemesis was a rogue intelligence officer of the People's Republic of China named Wo Fat. The Communist rogue agent was played by veteran actor Khigh Dheigh. The show's final episode in 1980 was titled "Woe to Wo Fat," in which McGarrett finally saw his foe Wo go to jail.

This television show's action and straightforward story-telling left little time for personal stories involving wives or girlfriends... Occasionally, a show would flash back to McGarrett's younger years or to a romantic figure. The viewer was left with the impression that McGarrett, at that point in his life...was wedded to the police force and to crime-fighting. 

Do you remember the original Hawaii Five-O? Thanks for visiting and have a great week! 

Film Noir

Time for a little more shameless self-promotion! If you love a mystery--and a good laugh--check out my new Black OOps Detective Mysteries, Cad to Cadaver and Growler to Grave. 

Now, if you love film noir, read on!

I love old movies and the older, the better. I'm particularly fond of the film noir classics of the 1940s.

According to Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia, the term "film noir" was coined by French critics to describe motion pictures characterized by a "dark somber tone and cynical, pessimistic mood." It literally means "dark film."

The film noir Hollywood pictures of the 40s and 50s portrayed the dark, sinister underworld of crime and corruption. And both heroes and villains were cynical loners, insecure and disillusioned by life's circumstances, bound to the past, and unsure of the future.

Several scenes are shot at night, and dingy realism is portrayed through the interior and exterior set designs. There's nothing glamorous about these movies (aside from the leading lady's wardrobe), but the stories are extremely compelling, with intrigue, suspense and lots and lots of plot twists.

Two of my favorite film noir pictures star beautiful Rita Hayworth. Although Lady from Shanghai is hard to follow (you'll have to watch it more than once), it keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. Even if it seems too weird (or perhaps, thought provoking, since it's Orson Welles), it's worth watching just for the ending. That's when Rita's character is shot in the house of mirrors and then lay dying in broken glass (she deserves it).

My other favorite is Gilda, which, for film noir, has a relatively happy ending. In this film, Rita is glamour personified! As the hot and steamy Gilda, a woman with a questionable past, her dialog to leading man Glen Ford is topnotch. Her words actually had me saying "ouch" a few times for the poor guy!

Do you enjoy old movies too?  If so, what are some of your favorites?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week! 

Morbid Curiosity or Fascinating Character Study

"I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect--in terror."  Edgar Allan Poe

Call me sick, call me twisted, but I seem to have a morbid curiosity regarding true crime.  I'm fascinated by what drives people to do such things.  And a great way to develop fictional bad guys is by reading factual criminal accounts and watching televised reenactments.

And this provides a place for me to do a little shameless self-promotion. My new Black OOps Mystery series is now available. Please checkout books one and two, Cad to Cadaver and Growler to Grave. 

Now back to business.

A tragic local story was in the news several years ago that involved a 17-year-old young man who strangled his 10-year-old brother.  

During the courtroom proceedings the prosecution, as well as the public, displayed outrage because the young man showed no remorse, and never apologized for what he'd done.  In response, he did make an apology.  But the statement was chilling to hear as the young man read it with the same emotion he'd use to read a book report. 

Although the youth never mentioned his sibling by name, he did say he was sorry for the murder and that he'd never forget how much his little brother meant to him and everyone else. (Really???)  Another unsettling aspect of this apology was that he spoke of how he planned to spend his time in prison (receiving his GED, taking college courses and working toward a degree), and when released, he'd go back to work at the restaurant he'd previously been employed by before the murder.  (Really???)

The prosecution didn't buy the apology, and neither did the public.  The young man received life without parole, because he was only 17 when the murder was committed.  What I learned after the trial was that the young man said he did it because he wanted to see what it would feel like to kill someone.  He also mentioned that he'd fantasized about committing murder since age 13.  I was flabbergasted upon hearing this!  

When I brought the case up to my husband, he said, "I don't want to talk about it, I can't even think about it!  How can you?"

Perhaps I'm just sick and twisted.  But this case reminds me of another one; that of Leopold and Loeb.  I first became acquainted with this infamous case when I was 16, working at the library during summer break.  One of the reference books kept in the work room was called The Encyclopedia of Murder.  I tried to get to work early everyday so I could read it.  (Okay, pretty twisted, I know.) 

Maybe this is when I realized I had a morbid curiosity about true crime.  I'm not interested in horror movies, and scary books (sorry Stephen King) frighten me too much!  True crime, however, fascinates me.

If you're not familiar with Leopold and Loeb, I've provided a thumbnail summary below.  But to learn more, click here.

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two wealthy University of Chicago college students who murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in 1924.  They were eventually sentenced to life in prison, and this case has inspired works of fiction, film and theater including Rope, a play by Patrick Hamilton, and a film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock.

Both men were exceptionally intelligent.  Leopold was 19, and Loeb 18 at the time of the murder, and they believed themselves to be Nietzchean supermen, capable of committing the perfect crime.  "A superman," Leopold had written, "is on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men.  He is not liable for anything he may do."

The duo (residents of Kenwood, a wealthy Jewish suburb of Chicago at the time) spent seven months planning an elaborate kidnap and murder scheme of a neighbor, and distant relative of Loeb's.  They even planned on a way of receiving ransom money without getting caught.  Money wasn't something they needed, as their families were wealthy and provided them plenty.

The boy was kidnapped, murdered and his body disposed of.  But when the corpse was discovered, also found at the scene was a pair of eyeglasses.  Expensive ones, with a unique hinge mechanism, only purchased by three people in the Chicago area, one of whom was Nathan Leopold.  So much for the perfect crime!

Clarence Darrow was hired by Loeb's family and the trial soon became known as  "The Trial of the Century."  It was later revealed that the men were driven by the "thrill of the kill," as well as to prove that they could commit the perfect crime.

Is it just me, or do you have a morbid curiosity, too?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

I love detective shows and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was one of my favorites when I was a kid. As a six-year-old, I had a desperate crush on blond spy David McCallum, who played Russian Illya Kuryakin, to Robert Vaughn's American Napoleon Solo.

The women in that series were only eye candy, but then there was The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., starring Stephanie Powers, as Agent April Dancer. I vaguely remember that show, but it didn't last long. Critics claimed Powers was ill-suited for the role, a trifle limited on acting ability, and that she came across as a timid agent. 

Too bad for The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. It was cancelled after only one season. Off topic here, but why was a female agent called a girl when she was a grown woman? I digress... 

Stephanie Powers is much better remembered from Hart to Hart, as amateur sleuth Jennifer Hart, who solved crimes along with her jet setting husband Jonathan Hart, played by Robert Wagner. 

If you enjoy a crime solving duo with a feisty heroin and a strong silent guy who aren't  jet-setters, but a couple looking for their next paying gig, please check out my RomCozy Black OOps Detective Mysteries, Cad to Cadaver and Growler to Grave. 

Now, back to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. If you're not familiar with the series, here's the gist from Wikipedia:

The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team working for U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement): American Napoleon Solo, and Georgian (Georgia-USSR) Illya Kuryakin.

U.N.C.L.E.'s adversary was T.H.R.U.S.H.... The original series never divulged what T.H.R.U.S.H. represented, but in several U.N.C.L.E. novels by David McDaniel, it is the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity, described as founded by Col. Sebastian Moran after the death of Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Final Problem."

T.H.R.U.S.H.'s aim was to conquer the world. Napoleon Solo said, in "The Green Opal Affair", "T.H.R.U.S.H. believes in the two-party system — the masters and the slaves," and in the pilot episode ("The Vulcan Affair"), T.H.R.U.S.H. "kills people the way people kill flies — a reflex action — a flick of the wrist." So dangerous was T.H.R.U.S.H. that governments — even those ideologically opposed, such as the United States and the Soviet Union — had cooperated in forming and operating the U.N.C.L.E. organization. Similarly, when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the story was held to a minimum.

 The show was quite fun to watch with all the espionage and intrigue! And there was just enough humor to lighten the mood.

Were you a fan of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!