Barbary Coast (1935)

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  • BARBARY COAST


    DIRECTED BY HOWARD HAWKS/WILLIAM WYLER
    MUSIC BY ALFRED NEWMAN
    THE SAMUEL GOLDWYN COMPANY
    UNITED ARTISTS



    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Mary Rutledge arrives from the east, finds her fiance dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Louis Charnalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in San Francisco in the 1850s. She falls in love with miner Carmichael and takes his gold dust at the wheel. She goes after him, Louis goes after her with intent to harm Carmichael.
    Written by Ed Stephan


    Cast
    Miriam Hopkins ... Mary 'Swan' Rutledge
    Edward G. Robinson ... Luis Chamalis
    Joel McCrea ... Jim Carmichael
    Walter Brennan ... Old Atrocity
    Frank Craven ... Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb
    Brian Donlevy ... Knuckles Jacoby
    Clyde Cook ... Oakie
    Harry Carey ... Jed Slocum
    Matt McHugh ... Broncho
    Donald Meek ... Sawbuck McTavish
    Rollo Lloyd ... Wigham
    J.M. Kerrigan ... Judge Harper
    Roger Gray ... Sandy Ferguson
    David Niven ... Cockney Sailor Thrown Out of Saloon (uncredited)
    Jack Pennick ... Miner Chasing Chinese Man (uncredited)
    Hank Worden ... Barfly / Townsman (uncredited)
    and many more...


    Directed
    Howard Hawks
    William Wyler ... (uncredited)


    Writing Credits
    Edward Chodorov ... (uncredited)
    Ben Hecht
    Stephen Longstreet ... (uncredited)
    Charles MacArthur


    Produced
    Samuel Goldwyn ... producer


    Music
    Alfred Newman ... (uncredited)


    Cinematography
    Ray June


    Trivia
    Joel McCrea's role was initially intended for Gary Cooper,


    There were constant struggles between Miriam Hopkins and Edward G. Robinson during the shooting of the movie. She constantly changed her lines and tried to upstage and unsettle Robinson's performance. After two weeks they had to shoot a scene where Robinson had to slap his co-star. He did just that, but put such force in it that she fell to the ground. After a pause the crew began to cheer, fed up as they were with Hopkins' antics.


    The famous uncredited early David Niven appearance can require several viewings to spot. It is about twelve minutes into the film, as Mary is led along the street and Old Atrocity (Walter Brennan) says "Make way for a lady!". Niven, wearing a peaked cap with a coat over his left arm, says in his best Cockney accent: "Oright- oright!" and something about bars in Africa, as he leaves the saloon with the main group in front of him.


    Memorable Quotes


    Filming Locations
    Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA (studio)
    San Francisco, California, USA


    Watch the Movie


    Barbary Coast

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 17 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Barbary Coast is a 1935 American historical drama film directed by Howard Hawks.
    Shot in black-and-white and set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era,
    the film combines elements of crime, Western, melodrama and adventure genres,
    features a wide range of actors, from good-guy
    Joel McCrea to bad-boy Edward G. Robinson,
    and stars Miriam Hopkins
    in the leading role as Mary 'Swan' Rutledge.
    In an early, uncredited appearance, David Niven
    can be spotted playing a drunken sailor being thrown out of a bar.


    Production
    The film is based on the bestseller The Barbary Coast (1933) by Herbert Asbury.
    When the first draft of the script was submitted to Joseph Breen, he commented to Samuel Goldwyn that "The whole flavor of the story is one of sordidness, and low-tone morality."


    After months of revisions by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the story changed from a story of an area of San Francisco where men came to find pleasure in drinking, prostitution, and gambling, to a love story. Breen commented to Will Hays that it was now a love story "between a fine, clean girl" and a sentimental young man and that there was "no sex, no unpleasant details of prostitution" and contains "full, and completely compensating, value [...] the finest and most intelligent picture I have seen in many months".



    Reception
    The New York Times's Andre Sennwald found the film entertaining.
    Time felt it was "painfully uninspired".Scholastic, a magazine for youth recommended the film for its "authentic background and characters of the days of gold-discovery". Newsweek complained that the plot from the original book was thrown away. Canadian Magazine assured Canadians that the film had "nothing to do with the cheap, tawdry 'coast' " from the novel. Chicago threatened to ban the film. Goldwyn edited a few scenes and the film was allowed to be exhibited there. The Chicago Legion of Decency condemned Barbary Coast. The Bishop of Los Angeles, John Cantwell, saw the movie with four other priests and enjoyed it; none found it immoral.


    Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene declared the film a triumphant success,
    describing it as "melodrama of the neatest, most expert kind, well directed, well acted and well written".
    Despite the film's use of what Greene regarded as a conventional plot, he lauded the "fresh and interesting"
    use of flawed characters to "make something real out of the hocus-pocus"


    A few Duke 'Pals'
    to look out for, if you can spot them
    Walter Brennan, Brian Donlevy, Harry Carey
    Donald Meek, Jack Pennick, Hank Worden



    User Review


    It's a master class of Howard Hawks
    9 June 2012 | by psagray (Spain)In 1849, the discovery of gold in California triggered an intense wave of immigration. Thousands of adventurers cross the Rocky Mountains to reach the Pacific coast, attracted mainly by the city of San Francisco.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 17 times, last by ethanedwards ().