RomanceWesternDrama

Barbary Coast

- 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.

Release Date : 1935-10-13

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Samuel Goldwyn ProductionsUnited Artists

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles : Port of Wickedness

Cast

Character Name : Mary 'Swan' Rutledge

Original Name : Miriam Hopkins

Gender : Female

Character Name : Luis Chamalis

Original Name : Edward G. Robinson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jim Carmichael

Original Name : Joel McCrea

Gender : Male

Character Name : Old Atrocity

Original Name : Walter Brennan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb

Original Name : Frank Craven

Gender : Male

Character Name : Knuckles Jacoby

Original Name : Brian Donlevy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Oakie

Original Name : Clyde Cook

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jed Slocum

Original Name : Harry Carey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Broncho

Original Name : Matt McHugh

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sawbuck McTavish

Original Name : Donald Meek

Gender : Male

Character Name : Wigham

Original Name : Rollo Lloyd

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sandy Ferguson

Original Name : Roger Gray

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cockney Sailor Thrown Out of Saloon (uncredited)

Original Name : David Niven

Gender : Male

Character Name : Barfly / Townsman (uncredited)

Original Name : Hank Worden

Gender : Male

Character Name : Judge Harper

Original Name : J.M. Kerrigan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ah Wing

Original Name : Wong Chung

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-06-19

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.