Barbary Coast is a very interesting film. It actually works best if you see it as a double feature with Frisco Kid. Here you see Edward G. Robinson as Luis Chamalis, the owner of the Bella Donna gambling house, and there you see James Cagney as Bat Morgan a very similar character ( although Cagney is slightly nicer). One problem I have with this movie is Miriam Hopkins as Mary 'Swan' Rutledge. Hopkins simply does nothing for me, and she actually looks about a decade older then eventual love interest Jim Carmichael ( Joel McCrea). It is actually very similar to her role in Virginia City where she looks much older then Errol Flynn. Hopkins character is basically a gold digger from New York who ends up in San Francisco and works for Chamalis. Spoilers ahead: She is unpleasant throughout the movie until the very end where she rigs the roulette wheel for fellow New Yorker Carmichael. The change in character does not work. Along the same line, Chamalis's character changes and he allows 'Swan' to go away with Carmichael and let himself get hung by the San Francisco vigilantes. Cagney's fate is different: He survives because of his love interest Jean Barrat ( Margaret Lindsay). But it is a much more realistic outcome then the change of character of both Robinson and ( especially) Hopkins. By far the best character is Old Atrocity ( Walter Brennan). He steals every scene he is in. As for McCrea, he really does nothing in the movie ( except as a plot device to return Hopkins to New York ( the one place where she was happy) )and is a weak point although not to the degree of Hopkins. I read where Gary Cooper was the original choice over McCrea, and he certainly would have improved the movie. How so? Take their westerns and rank them 1 through 10 and 9/10 belong to Cooper ( only excluding Ride The High Country). If you decide to see only one of the two ( Barbary Coast or Frisco Kid), see the Cagney film instead. Why? It is better. Barbary Coast gets 7/10 stars mostly for Brennan and Robinson.
Review of Barbary Coast
