Watch Flame of Barbary Coast For Free

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

There are obvious parallels between the plot of this Republic film and the previous MGM "San Francisco. Both involve a self-made Barbary coast kingpin, a prime female entertainer, and an ending precipitated by the 1906 earthquake and fire. There are additional films with a very similar plot, but without the catastrophic ending. These include: "Frisco Kid(1935), "Barbary Coast"(1935), "Hello, Frisco, Hello"(1943) , and "Frisco Sal", released the same year as the present film. Tito Morell, in the present film, is equivalent to Clark Gable's 'Blackie' in "S.F", both being self made men, with greater ambitions than their present casino on the Barbary Coast. Ann Dvorak, as Flaxen, is equivalent to the role of Jeanette MacDonald in "S.F." There is no exact equivalent for John Wayne's character in "S.F." although the nob hill crowd, who want to take Jeanette away from Blackie for their opera house is reminiscent of Wayne's role here in trying to lure Flaxen away from Tito's casino, to his brand new casino. There is no equivalent in the present film, for Spencer Tracy's character in "S.F.".As in the case of S.F., we can look at the screenplay as being a morality play. Wayne achieved his dream of building a lavish casino by a combination of skill and luck in gambling. But on opening night, God destroyed his dream with a violent earthquake, leaving him penniless. In contrast, rival Tito's casino survived mostly intact. I think there is symbolic significance in this difference in fortune. It's saying that Tito and his casino belong here, whereas Wayne belongs back on his Montana cattle ranch, he misses so much. Fortunately for Wayne, Flaxen was agreeable to give up her entertainment lifestyle to become a cattlewoman. She had seemingly vacillated between supporting Tito or Wayne, it being difficult to tell which side she was on until near the end. Tito was rather like Gable in "S.F.": not really a bad villain.See it in B&W at YouTube

Considering it's a John Wayne film, it already earns a respectable score from me. Aside from his early B-movies and a few horrible mistakes ("The Green Beret" and "The Conqueror" come to mind), any John Wayne film is worth seeing. However, "Flame of the Barbary Coast" is certainly among his lesser starring efforts. I think part of this is because Wayne's bigger than life persona really isn't fully evident in this film--in fact, he seems like a bit of a chump in this one! The film begins with Wayne coming to the Barbary Coast (a rough section of San Francisco) from Montana to collect a debt. However, he takes one look at 'Flaxen' (Ann Dvorak) and is instantly smitten--and spends much of the rest of the film following her about like a love-sick puppy. As I said, it's not the totally self-confident and macho John Wayne that later would be solidified in his films--the later Wayne would have just grabbed the woman and planted a kiss on her or dumped her when she played hard to get! This one, however, spends most of the movie trying to one-up her unscrupulous boss (Joseph Schildkraut) and build an even bigger gambling casino where he wants the chanteuse, Flaxen, to perform. All this striving for one woman--a woman that often didn't seem worth it as she's whiny and demanding. Yet, she is a walking cliché--the woman EVERY man wants to possess--yet not sexy enough to really pull it off well.Overall, the film is worth seeing but easy to skip. The script is only fair and Wayne's support is sometimes weak (Dvorak and Schildkraut--who came off as too wimpy to be a good foil)--though William Frawley is very good in his role as Wayne's friend and mentor. If you are a HUGE Wayne fan, then you must see it. If you aren't, then it probably won;t do much to impress you.By the way, this is one of several films that portray the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Considering the film was made by a low-budget studio (Republic), its special effects were pretty good but not nearly as nice as films such as "San Francisco" by MGM or "Frisco Jenny" by Warner Brothers.

If you want to see John Wayne paddling in the Pacific Ocean with his boots off this may be your only chance.Pleasingly named "Duke" in "Flame of the Barbary Coast",Mr Wayne cuts a fine figure amongst the stone gamblers in the casinos as he goes to the big city to collect a debt from saloon owner Mr J.Schildkraut(looking unnervingly like TV's Sherlock Holmes Jeremy Brett).The two men turn out to be rivals for the hand of Miss A.Dvorak as chanteuse Flaxen Tarry. This is a movie full of energy and movement.As Duke and Flaxen tour the gambling houses,winning - courtesy of her preventing the croupiers from cheating - a large wedge, they are followed by an increasingly noisy entourage like a conga line,bustling with excitement.Arriving back at Schildkraut's casino,Duke flashes his cash and buys everybody drinks. The next morning he ill - advisedly accepts Schildkraut's challenge to a game of Stud and is cleared out,left only with a return ticket to Montana.Undeterred and in lurve with Flaxen,he takes poker lessons,sells up his herd and - with his card - coach on hand - returns to San Francisco to win his money back and his gal at the same time. Republic make a surprisingly good fist of the 1906 earthquake,Flaxen is photogenically injured and Duke takes her off to Montana to get the good country air into her lungs.Mr Schildkraut is surprisingly sporting about the whole thing.Put this way,the movie might seem a little bit frothy and trivial,but it is given body by the performances of the leads,Mr Schildkraut in particular in a role that might have been written for Clark Gable,a charismatic mixture of charm and menace. Perhaps not writ large on Mr Wayne's C.V.,"Flame of the Barbary Coast" is nevertheless an enjoyable,well - made and worthwhile movie.In it one can see the nascent wry,stubborn and sometimes wrong - headed persona Mr Wayne was develop so successfully and use for the rest of his career.

Before watching Flame Of Barbary Coast I never read the description on the back cover of the DVD case. It mentions the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Fortunately I was aware of some of the history of that earthquake, so I was picking up the clues given throughout the movie. All I cared about before watching the movie was that it was a western with John Wayne in it. The movie is a "late" western in that it takes place as the wild west had been tamed and the 20th Century was becoming an entirely different reality.The plot was okay, but a little thin. A Montana rancher goes to the big city, finds himself played out as a sucker, and returns to conquer the same people who made a fool out of him. Duke Fergus (John Wayne) takes lessons from his professional gambler friend, Wolf Wylie (William Frawley), and ends up beating the professional gamblers in their own casinos. Even for John Wayne this is quite amazing. Added to that is his love interest in Flaxen (Ann Dvorak), known as "the Flame of the Barbary Coast", who apparently has teased virtually every powerful man in town. At the time of the story she is tied to Tito Morrell (Joseph Schildkraut), the most successful and notorious of the gambling house bosses.I liked the way Joseph Schildkraut played the classy, but devious, casino owner, Tito Morrell. His character hinted at aristocratic old world lineage and his determination to maintain a level of sophistication despite his present reputation. Tito's criminal side is never shown, only implied. John Wayne's character, Duke, never came across as simple. He loved his modest environment at his ranch in Montana, but he had a business sense and some integrity. Ann Dvorak's Flaxen is the character that seems a bit odd. If she has such a reputation for being the unobtainable prize, why do so many still want her? She really does smile her way through everything, too. It would have been really nice if she got one of those famous John Wayne spankings.Establishing a specific time was done gradually and then deliberately. The house Tito provides for Flaxen is definitely built in an elaborate turn of the century European-influenced style that would not have existed thirty years earlier. Upon arriving in San Francisco there were many electric lights. A bathroom with running water is shown. Eventually a specific date in January of 1906 is mentioned, and later it is mentioned that April of the same year has arrived. Although everyone is moving on foot or in a horse drawn carriage, an automobile appears in one scene. The time placement was subtle in the beginning and made perfectly clear as it became more important to the plot.I expected the climax of the movie to be the famous San Francisco earthquake. There really were explosions and gas fires from ruptured natural gas lines. Firefighters are shown in the movie running out of water because of broken water mains just as the real firefighters did. It is even mentioned that looters would be shot, as they really were. The catalyst that brought about changes in San Francisco set up the final scenes for the main characters. The true nature of everyone is shown in a final showdown between Duke, Tito, and Flaxen.I liked Flame Of Barbary Coast. My only complaint is that the movie makes the Barbary Coast seem to be the most important part of San Francisco, and it is the only part of the city that is shown. The sets were elaborate and the actors were good. It cannot be called a gangster movie even though it has crime bosses. Over all it was more of a drama than a western, but it was worth watching.