''Flame of Barbary Coast'' is a 1945 American
musical-
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film starring
John Wayne,
Ann Dvorak,
Joseph Schildkraut
Joseph Schildkraut (22 March 1896 – 21 January 1964) was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film '' The Life of Emile Zola'' (1937); later, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for ...
,
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy ser ...
, and
Virginia Grey
Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004) was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s.
Biography
Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, Calif ...
. The movie was scripted by
Borden Chase and directed by
Joseph Kane
Jasper Joseph Inman Kane (March 19, 1894, San Diego – August 25, 1975, Santa Monica, California) was an American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on Western f ...
.
Plot
Naive Montana cowboy Duke Fergus arrives in San Francisco and visits the notorious
Barbary Coast. Fergus becomes smitten with the lovely star attraction of the fanciest gambling hall, "Flaxen" Tarry, the "Flame of the Barbary Coast". Fergus gets talked into gambling against the owner (and Flaxen's lover), card shark Tito Morell. Predictably, Fergus gets cheated and loses all his money.
Fergus sets himself to win Flaxen's affections and decides the best way to do it is to take over. Fergus gets his friend Wolf Wylie to teach him everything about gambling, including how to spot cheating. When Duke's ready, he sells all he owns and returns to the city to challenge Morell's rule of the Barbary Coast. He goes from casino to casino, challenging each one's resident poker champion to a heads-up game, starting with Morell. Duke wins every time.
Fergus then builds an opulent new gambling establishment, catering to the upper class. To make it a success, he needs to persuade Flaxen to come work for him, but she is initially not interested. Only when Morell offends her does she decide to accept Fergus' offer. On opening night of the new establishment, Morell comes to challenge Fergus and win back Flaxen only in the midst of it all,
a great earthquake hits, leaving Fergus' and Morell's businesses are destroyed, and Flaxen grievously injured. The town rebuilds and Fergus helps Flaxen in her recovery.
In the aftermath, both Fergus and Morell run for mayor. Fergus catches Morell's men in the act of trying to rig the election. Fergus turns the results over the people to have them decide in favor of returning to Montana to marry Flaxen while Morell keeps his business and influence.
Cast
Production
The film was announced in May 1944. It was one of eight "super de luxe" productions from
Republic Pictures for 1944–45, the others being ''
Lake Placid Serenade'', ''Storm Over the Philippines'', ''Hit Parade'', ''A Fabulous Texan'', ''Earl Carroll's Vanities'', and ''Let the Hurricane Roar''.
Ann Dvorak, who had made her last three films in England, signed a long-term contract with Republic and was assigned the female lead. Eve Lynn, a magazine cover model who had never acted before, was cast in the second lead.
Awards
The film was nominated for two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
; Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and
Sound Recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording ...
(
Daniel J. Bloomberg
Daniel J. Bloomberg (July 4, 1905 – August 14, 1984) was an Academy Award-winning audio engineer. Bloomberg's first Hollywood credit was in 1934, his last his Oscar-nominated work on John Ford’s ''The Quiet Man'' 18 years later. In the int ...
).
See also
*
List of American films of 1945
This is a list of American films that were released in 1945. In that year, the film '' The Lost Weekend'' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
...
*
John Wayne filmography
References
External links
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Review of filmat ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
Review of filmat ''Variety''
{{Joseph Kane
1945 films
1945 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
American black-and-white films
Barbary Coast, San Francisco
Films directed by Joseph Kane
Films set in San Francisco
Films about gambling
Republic Pictures films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films