Commercial Appeal:
Made on a budget of $700,000, Algiers made only a small profit in its initial release. However, in later years, the film acquired a larger following due to the campy dialogue, re-evaluation of Lamarr’s career and life, and countless jokes by comedians and animators about Boyer’s heavy accent and utterance of a sentence that was actually never in the picture, “come wiz me to ze casbah.”
Though the movie made Lamarr an international star, her future career was rather disappointing and she had never fulfilled the promise shown in this picture.
Produced by Walter Wanger
Written by James M. Cain (additional dialogue), screenplay by John Howard Lawson
Based on Pépé le Moko 1937 novel by Detective Ashelbe and the French movie Pépé le Moko
Music by Vincent Scotto, Mohamed Ygerbuchen
Cinematography James Wong Howe
Edited by Otho Lovering, William H. Reynolds
Production company: Walter Wanger Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: August 5, 1938
Running time: 99 minutes
Budget $691,833
Box office $951,801