Best Actor 1938: Charles Boyer in Algiers

Charles Boyer received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Pepe le Moko in Algiers.

Algiers tells of the police trying to catch jewel thief Pepe, Algiers begins interesting, but it slowly turns to very little.

Charles Boyer is Pepe Le Moko a theif who hides from the police by staying a complex section of the city called the Casbah. Boyer actually despite the film being entirely about him, strangely is not in the film as much as you may think he would be since much of the film is about how others try to catch him, or how they react to him.

Boyer though when he is on screen certianly instantly reflects exactly the type of character Pepe should be. He shows a complete understanding of his surroundings, and naturally has an entirely complete control of his situation. Boyer's whole manner is perfectly fitting of his intelligent and suave thief.

Boyer also has the right manner throughout his performance, and I find his romances in the film interesting, because he is not particularly warm with the women in the film. He shows this as a different kind of more commanding and control of them instead, that fits well for Pepe le Moko, much better than if he was overly lovey in his performance. 

Although I felt Boyer was technically with what he did, I felt there was something lacking about his entire character. Not because of Boyer's performance, but rather because there was simply lacking in Pepe as written. You just do not see enough of who Pepe le Moko is rather than being just a smooth criminal, and a smooth romantic. Boyer is indeed good at being quite smooth, and gets probably the most out of what he has, but I needed a little more.