Flame of Barbary Coast (1945)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Joseph Kane

Writers:

Borden Chase (original screenplay) and
Prescott Chaplin (story)

Release Date:

28 May 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

PACKED WITH THE THRILL AND SPECTACLE OF THE WEST'S MOST EXCITING ERA! (original poster)

Plot:

Duke falls for Flaxen in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Tito...

Plot Keywords:

Money | Barbary Coast | Gambler | Debt | California

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

John Wayne	...	Duke Fergus
Ann Dvorak	...	Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Boss Tito Morell
William Frawley	...	Wolf Wylie
Virginia Grey	...	Rita Dane
Russell Hicks	...	Cyrus Danver, Owner San Francisco Star
Jack Norton	...	Byline Conners, Reporter San Francisco Star
Paul Fix	...	Calico Jim
Manart Kippen	...	Dr. Gorman
Eve Lynne	...	Martha, Morell's Secretary
Marc Lawrence	...	Joe Disko, Gambler
Butterfly McQueen	...	Beulah, Flaxen's Maid
Rex Lease	...	Collingswood, headwaiter
Hank Bell	...	Hank, cabby
Al Murphy	...	Horseshoe Brown
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eddie Acuff	...	Smokey, the Train Engineer (uncredited)
Doc Adams	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Melva Anstead	...	Dancehall Girl (uncredited)
George Boyce	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Roy Butler	...	Telephone Man (uncredited)
Dorothy Christy	...	Mother Bronson (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Kenne Duncan	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Joe Evans	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Jack Gargan	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Bud Geary	...	Henchman (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Morell Henchman (uncredited)
William Halligan	...	Tom Buckman (uncredited)
Stuart Hamblen	...	Jud McCone (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Frank Jaquet	...	Prominent Citizen (uncredited)
Willie Keeler	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Patricia Knox	...	Dancehall Girl (uncredited)
Tom London	...	Thompson, Townsman in Mob (uncredited)
Adele Mara	...	Marie (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Speaker (uncredited)
Frankie Marvin	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Frank McCarroll	...	Attendant (uncredited)
Philo McCullough	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Pat McKee	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Jack Mulhall	...	Gambler (uncredited)
William J. O'Brien	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Bud Osborne	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Jack O'Shea	...	Barnes, the Dice Table Croupier (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	...	Pedestrian (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Train Fireman (uncredited)
Bobbie Priest	...	Bit (uncredited)
Hugh Prosser	...	Fred Mallen (uncredited)
Beverly Reedy	...	Dancehall Girl (uncredited)
Joe Rickson	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Arlyn Roberts	...	Dancehall Girl (uncredited)
Hector Sarno	...	Spectator at Dice Table (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Casey (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Charles Sullivan	...	Calico Jim's Bartender (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Gleason, Rita's Agent (uncredited)
Bud Wolfe	...	Barfly (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph Kane

Writing credits
Borden Chase		(original screenplay)
Prescott Chaplin		story

Produced by
Joseph Kane	....	associate producer

Original Music by
R. Dale Butts		(uncredited)
Mort Glickman		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert De Grasse		(photography) (as Robert DeGrasse)

Film Editing by
Richard L. Van Enger

Art Direction by
Gano Chittenden

Set Decoration by
Otto Siegel

Costume Design by
Adele Palmer
Robert Ramsey		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Peggy Gray	....	key hair stylist (uncredited)
Bob Mark	....	makeup supervisor (uncredited)

Production Management
Al Wilson	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Virgil Hart	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Earl Crain Sr.	....	sound

Special Effects by
Howard Lydecker	....	special effects
Theodore Lydecker	....	special effects

Stunts
Bud Geary	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bobbie Priest	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bud Wolfe	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Guerin	....	camera engineer (uncredited)

Music Department
R. Dale Butts	....	orchestrator (as Dale Butts)
Morton Scott	....	musical director
Joseph Dubin	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Larry Ceballos	....	dance director

Production Companies

• Republic Pictures (I) (presents)

Distributors

• Republic Pictures (I) (1945) (USA) (theatrical) (as A Republic Production)
• General Film Distributors (GFD) (1945) (UK) (theatrical)
• Republic Pictures (I) (1950) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Flame of the Barbary Coast (UK)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #10403) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Action (1977)

Soundtrack:

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Pale imitation of "San Francisco".

Republic Pictures attempt at a prestige picture, for their tenth anniversary, is a dismal failure. In 1936 MGM made a marvellous film called "San Francisco" about a saloon owner and his romance with a singer set around the 1906 earthquake. In 1945 "Flame of Barbary Coast" takes the same characters and even the same setting. But this time instead of Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, we have John Wayne and Ann Dvorak. And instead of spectacular special effects for the earthquake we have one chandelier fall down and lots of stock footage of fires!

Why did they do this? Wayne is awful playing a character called "Duke", but he is "Olivier" in comparison to the woeful Dvorak. Someone seems to have told Miss Dvorak to smile - and she does throughout the movie, whether she's facing an earthquake, a duel between her lovers, or permanent paralysis. And she couldn't sing, but she is given several dreary and hideously choreographed numbers. Poor Joseph Schildkraut is there as the baddie and provides a couple of moments of wry humour.

Mind you how could anyone act with this appalling dialogue. For example:

After the earthquake Wayne meets Schildkraut in the tent city that has been set up. Both love Dvorak but she has been hurt and has been asking for Schildkraut. Wayne fills him in on her condition.

Wayne: She's paralyzed.

Pause. Music swells.

Schildkraut: It's gonna be tough.

Some cliched camera angles (the stage seen through the holes in the wheel of fortune) are used ad nauseum and the plot makes no sense at all. Wayne, for example, runs for mayor and gets into a massive fight with Schildkraut's boys who are destroying ballot papers. Having finally regained the correct tally sheets that elect him mayor he announces he is going back to Montana! Dvorak takes Wayne on a tour of all the gambling houses and, despite the protests of all the owners, only has to wink at the dealers for them to allow Wayne to win $16,000. And the dealers aren't even reprimanded.

What was everyone thinking? Or weren't they?