Barbary Coast

10/13/19351h 31m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Love was a gamble she couldn't afford to lose. ~

Overview:

Mary Rutledge arrives from the east, finds her fiancé dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Luis Chamalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in San Francisco in the 1850s. She falls in love with miner Jim Carmichael and takes his gold dust at the wheel. She goes after him, Chamalis goes after her with intent to harm Carmichael.

Director:

Howard Hawks

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

san francisco, california
roulette
gambling house

Cast

Miriam Hopkins

~ as ~

Mary 'Swan' Rutledge

Edward G. Robinson

~ as ~

Luis Chamalis

Joel McCrea

~ as ~

Jim Carmichael

Walter Brennan

~ as ~

Old Atrocity

Frank Craven

~ as ~

Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb

Brian Donlevy

~ as ~

Knuckles Jacoby

Clyde Cook

~ as ~

Oakie

Harry Carey

~ as ~

Jed Slocum

Matt McHugh

~ as ~

Broncho

Donald Meek

~ as ~

Sawbuck McTavish

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
6
It's quite interesting to see Edward G Robinson ("Louis Chamalis") in this period melodrama sets in a largely lawless San Francisco of the 1850s, but charismatic as he certainly is - even with his coiffured hair and frilly shirts - he cannot really raise this mediocre effort. Miriam Hopkins is "Swan" - a woman who arrives from New York to marry a miner who has fallen foul of the drink/gambling and gunmen. Determined to stay, she alights on the local casino owner (Robinson) and is soon part of the fabric of his place. When one day she goes riding and gets caught in a storm, she shelters with the rather decent "Jim Carmichael" (Joel McCrae) who has made a bit from his claim and wants to head back to New York. Fog sets in, his sailing is delayed and next thing he is led to their den of iniquity by Walter Brennan and you can guess what happens next. It's set at a time when the upright citizens were starting to take a stand against the corruption that was governing their lives in their so called "vigilante" phase, but this unrequited love story is so light and fluffy that by the ending, the plot has long since run out of steam and the actions of the "respectable" townsfolk come across as far more horrific than anything done by the hoodlums.