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Barbary Coast

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6.6/10 • 29

1935-10-131h 31m

RomanceWesternDrama

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

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.

Directors
Howard Hawks
Writters
Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur
Editors
Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Edward Curtiss

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Miriam Hopkins

    Miriam Hopkins

    Mary 'Swan' Rutledge

  2. Edward G. Robinson

    Edward G. Robinson

    Luis Chamalis

  3. Joel McCrea

    Joel McCrea

    Jim Carmichael

  4. Walter Brennan

    Walter Brennan

    Old Atrocity

  5. Frank Craven

    Frank Craven

    Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb

  6. Brian Donlevy

    Brian Donlevy

    Knuckles Jacoby

  7. Clyde Cook

    Clyde Cook

    Oakie

  8. Harry Carey

    Harry Carey

    Jed Slocum

  9. Matt McHugh

    Matt McHugh

    Broncho

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jun 19, 2022

6/10

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.

Media

  • Barbary Coast poster
  • Barbary Coast poster
  • Barbary Coast poster
  • Barbary Coast poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
san francisco, californiaroulettegambling house