Flame of Barbary Coast (1945)

Really Surprised!

Great Film overall

Absolutely Fantastic

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are obvious parallels between the plot of this Republic film and the previous MGM "San Francisco. Both involve a self-made Barbary coast kingpin, a prime female entertainer, and an ending precipitated by the 1906 earthquake and fire. There are additional films with a very similar plot, but without the catastrophic ending. These include: "Frisco Kid(1935), "Barbary Coast"(1935), "Hello, Frisco, Hello"(1943) , and "Frisco Sal", released the same year as the present film. Tito Morell, in the present film, is equivalent to Clark Gable's 'Blackie' in "S.F", both being self made men, with greater ambitions than their present casino on the Barbary Coast. Ann Dvorak, as Flaxen, is equivalent to the role of Jeanette MacDonald in "S.F." There is no exact equivalent for John Wayne's character in "S.F." although the nob hill crowd, who want to take Jeanette away from Blackie for their opera house is reminiscent of Wayne's role here in trying to lure Flaxen away from Tito's casino, to his brand new casino. There is no equivalent in the present film, for Spencer Tracy's character in "S.F.".As in the case of S.F., we can look at the screenplay as being a morality play. Wayne achieved his dream of building a lavish casino by a combination of skill and luck in gambling. But on opening night, God destroyed his dream with a violent earthquake, leaving him penniless. In contrast, rival Tito's casino survived mostly intact. I think there is symbolic significance in this difference in fortune. It's saying that Tito and his casino belong here, whereas Wayne belongs back on his Montana cattle ranch, he misses so much. Fortunately for Wayne, Flaxen was agreeable to give up her entertainment lifestyle to become a cattlewoman. She had seemingly vacillated between supporting Tito or Wayne, it being difficult to tell which side she was on until near the end. Tito was rather like Gable in "S.F.": not really a bad villain.See it in B&W at YouTube

FLAME OF THE BARBARY COAST is a light romantic comedy featuring John Wayne in a starring role butting heads against chorus girl Ann Dvorak and eventually falling in love with her. As with the other Republic westerns I've seen that Wayne made in the 1940s, this one has a likable lightness of touch that makes it a lot of fun to watch, and entertaining throughout.The theme of the movie is gambling and the various gambling interludes are handled in a well-paced way. Joseph Schildkraut makes for a thoroughly imposing villain and his acting is of a much better class than is usual in a picture like this. The film even manages to cram in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake as a sub-plot and the special effects in this scene are great fun. Fans of the Duke will be in their element.

Flame of Barbary Coast finds John Wayne as a visiting cowboy from Montana who makes and loses a fortune in a night and goes home busted. He also finds the love of his life in Ann Dvorak, an entertainer at Joseph Schildkraut's place on the Barbary Coast.Schildkraut figures that Dvorak is his personal property. But the Dvorak romantic angle is a side issue because Wayne is figuring on not getting mad, but getting even. He's learned a bit about gambling from an oldtimer at the trade in William Frawley. Of course Wayne and Schildkraut's rivalry is interrupted by the famous earthquake of 1906. As this is Republic Films and not Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, the special effects are nice, but not near as good as those from MGM. As this was Republic's prestige film of the year, I'm sure it was the best that miserly old Herbert J. Yates could afford.The most interesting member of the cast is Schildkraut, a scion of the old Spanish aristocracy who's chosen to make his living on the Barbary Coast in the dens of iniquity there. He's as in love with Dvorak as Wayne is, but likes his power and notoriety more.Yates took some liberties with San Francisco history in this one. The MGM San Francisco did not bother mentioning any of the local political figures of the day, but Flame on Barbary Coast did and got it wrong. Wayne and Schildkraut square off in an election in 1906 that never took place between Mayor Eugene Schmitz and James D. Phelan. Phelan was in fact Schmitz's predecessor in office and Schmitz didn't lose an election. He got himself impeached for setting a standard of corruption that has had some urban historian calling him the worst big city mayor in American history. Now THAT would be an interesting film. Still the Duke's legion of fans will love him in this one and others will like Joseph Schildkraut.

If you want to see the electric lines in SF in 1906 check out the links listed below from the SF Museum. These two slides in the power point show the lines that were present then.I think that the level of electric service shown in the film was a little advance for 1906, most would not pick upon that. Remember this was a 1945 film, compare it to the 50's not present day films to be fair. Acting talent still beats special effects in my book. Just think what kind of movies John Wayne could do in 2005 with just a few of today's effects. Maybe some one could apply CGI to an older movie? Good movie, to bad we get so few good movies in the current productions.http://www.sfmuseum.org/views/1906.ppt#262,8,Slide 8http://www.sfmuseum.org/views/1906.ppt#264,13,Slide 12Check out the rest of the site worth the time, just as this movie is.