Film Masters Archive Collection has released a restored Blu-ray of John Cromwell’s 1938 film, Algiers staring Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr.

The film is a scene-for-scene remake of Julien Duvivier’s 1937 French film, Pepe le Moko which MGM’s Louis B. Mayer and independent producer Walter Wanger had a bidding war over for the U.S. rights, both of whom wanted to remake it, not distribute it. Mayer won, but didn’t like what his writers were doing with it, so he sold the rights to Wanger who with very little changes to the original assigned it to Cromwell.

Long-established actor-director Cromwell whose directorial efforts already included such classics as Of Juman Bondage with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and The Prisoner of Zenda with Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll acceded to Wanger’s demands not to change anything but wasn’t happy with them.

Mayer had seen it as a vehicle for Spencer Tracy or Robert Montgomery in Jean Gabin’s role of the French thief hiding out in Algiers’ Casbah, but Wanger wanted and got Boyer with Sylvia Sidney in one of the film’s two female leads. Boyer, Cromwell, and Wanger all wanted Lamarr for the other female lead but didn’t think they would get her because she was under contract to Mayer who hadn’t yet cast her in anything. Mayer, whose reluctance to cast Lamarr was due to the publicity surrounding her 1933 Swedish film, Ecstasy in which she appeared nude and notoriously faked an orgasm, the first time anything like that had been done in a commercial film.

Mayer loved the idea of Lamarr appearing in the film for Wanger. If she was a success, he would benefit by finally casting her in an MGM film. If she wasn’t, the blame would fall on Wanger, and he could wash his hands of her. As it turned out, the film was a smash hit, and audiences loved her. Mayer wasted no time in casting Lamarr opposite Robert Taylor in 1939’s Lady of the Tropics, quickly followed by 1940’s Boom Town in which she starred with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Claudette Colbert in one of that year’s biggest hits.

Original billing for Algiers had Boyer’s name in large letters with Sigrid Gurie and Lamarr’s names in smaller print below the title, Gurie having replaced Sylvia Sidney who was aghast at Lamarr’s casting. It didn’t take long after the initial strong reaction to Lamarr’s performance for newspaper ads to start showing Boyer and Lamarr over the title with Gurie along with Alan Hale and other supporting players listed below the title.

Despite Lamarr’s sudden emergence as a major star, the film still belonged to Boyer who was at the height of his reign as the screen’s greatest lover after back-to-back successes opposite Marlene Dietrich in The Garden of Allah, Greta Garbo in Conquest, and Jean Arthur in History Is Made at Night, having received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1937’s Conquest.

Boyer had a field day romancing both Gurie and Lamarr and sparring with police inspector Joseph Calleia and fellow crooks Alan Hale, Johnny Downs, Leonid Kinskey, and Gene Lockhart as a sleazy informer, even taking time out to sing a very pleasing version of “C’est la Vie”.

The film received four Oscar nominations for Boyer and Lockhart’s performances, James Wong Howe’s striking cinematography, and Alexander Toluboff’s art direction.

Boyer continued his career as the screen’s greatest lover of the day romancing Irene Dunne and Olivia de Havilland to Oscar nominations in Love Affair and Hold Back the Dawn, respectively, and Ingrid Bergman to an Oscar win in Gaslight for which he received his own third nomination. He received a surprise fourth nomination for 1961’s Fanny over co-star Maurice Chevalier.

Cromwell went on direct such later classics as Since You Went Away, Anna and the King of Siam, and Caged. Actor James Cromwell is his son.

Commentary on the new release is by film historians Karie Bible and Roy Windham.

Pepe le Moko, which Wanger unsuccessfully tried to destroy all copies of, was finally given a U.S. release in 1941. It was remade as a musical renamed Casbah in 1948 with Tony Martin as Pepe, Yvonne de Carlo in Sigrid Gurie’s role, and Marta Toren in Lamarr’s. Peter Lorre stole the film as the police inspector played by Joseph Calleia in Algiers.

Paramount has released a 4K UHD version of 1950’s Sunset Boulevard on the heels of the London and Broadway revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version.

Paramount’s 2012 Blu-ray with all its bells and whistles accompanies the 4K release which contains only the commentary by Ed Sikov from the Blu-ray as an extra.

The 2 ½ hours of extras on the Blu-ray include extensive bios of director Billy Wilder, and stars Gloria Swanson, William Holden, and Nancy Olson which includes interviews with Swanson and now 97-year-old Olson. Glenn Close, who has been trying to get a film version made of the musical ever since she starred in the 1994 Broadway production, also appears. These days, though, it looks like revival star Nicole Scherzinger is more likely to get the starring role if the musical is made now.

Australia’s Imprint label from ViaVision has unexpectedly released a Blu-ray version of William A. Wellman’s 1954 film, Track of the Cat. The film’s release provides hope that Wellman’s greater 1954 success, The High and the Mighty starring John Wayne and a host of other stars will soon be released. Both films are owned by Wayne’s estate.

Track of the Cat is based on a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, the writer of one of Wellman’s greatest successes, 1943’s The Ox-Bow Incident.

The film plays more like a Eugene O’Neill play than a western with Beulah Bondi in what she allegedly considered her favorite role as the nasty matriarch of a family of snowbound Northern California ranchers at the turn of the 20th Century.

Robert Mitchum and Teresa Wright have over the title billing as Bondi’s middle son and spinster daughter but Tab Hunter as her youngest son has the film’s strongest role aside from her.

Mitchum spends most the film chasing the panther that killed his older brother while Wright stays in her room for most of the film, emerging now and then to throw epithets at everyone.

William Hopper is the oldest son who is killed early on by the panther and Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer at 26 in heavy makeup plays an old Indian who works with the brothers. Philip Tonge is Bondi’s good for nothing alcoholic husband and Diana Lynn is the local girl who may or may not marry Hunter.

Audio commentary from the earlier DVD release is supplied by Wellman’s son, William A. Wellman Jr, along with Tab Hunter and author Frank Thompson. Extras include a 4-part documentary on the making of the film and a 1991 documentary on Mitchum’s career.

Happy viewing.