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.
Quote from psaDisplay More"Barbary Coast" is another master class in film directing master's Hawks a cast led by Edward G. Robinson, Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea, with luxury side like Walter Brennan.
It was directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler and starring in the leading roles by Edward G. Robinson and Miriam Hopkins. Edward G. Robinson makes one of his great interpretations of character bad guy and as we see actor Walter Brennan, surprisingly with the same appearance as in "Rio Bravo" (1959) and equally good job.
A film with narrative pace, with characters well defined, with superb performances, with economy of means, with a perfect picture.
The film is very entertaining though it is among the best of Howard Hawks.