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Barbary Coast, 1935
A woman nicknamed Swan (Miriam Hopkins) arrives in San Francisco only to find that her fiance has died. She ends up getting hired to run a roulette wheel at a wild gambling house run by the amoral Chamalis (Edward G Robinson) and his ruthless right hand man, Knuckles (Brian Donlevy). While Chamalis relentlessly pursues Swan, she ends up falling for a miner named Jim (Joel McCrea).
This was a good but not great drama thriller. One of the most stand-out elements of the film is the fact that its version of San Francisco is perpetually shrouded in a thick fog. It adds an eerie element to many of the sequences, especially one in which the killer Knuckles is cornered by a fed-up group of vigilantes who march him through the muddy streets while they put him "on trial" for his murders. The fog exacerbates the sense of it being a place where bad things can happen and people don't notice or don't care.
Hopkins and McCrea have good chemistry, though the romance between them feels a little, well, not quite contrived, but just a bit shallow. Robinson is more convincing as the wicked gambling house owner, a man who doesn't believe that the rules should apply to him, and who is also used to getting his way.
There's just not a ton to say about this one. The story is good and the last act is pretty interesting. The actors are all good in their roles and there are a few intense sequences worth checking out.
Barbary Coast, 1935
A woman nicknamed Swan (Miriam Hopkins) arrives in San Francisco only to find that her fiance has died. She ends up getting hired to run a roulette wheel at a wild gambling house run by the amoral Chamalis (Edward G Robinson) and his ruthless right hand man, Knuckles (Brian Donlevy). While Chamalis relentlessly pursues Swan, she ends up falling for a miner named Jim (Joel McCrea).
This was a good but not great drama thriller. One of the most stand-out elements of the film is the fact that its version of San Francisco is perpetually shrouded in a thick fog. It adds an eerie element to many of the sequences, especially one in which the killer Knuckles is cornered by a fed-up group of vigilantes who march him through the muddy streets while they put him "on trial" for his murders. The fog exacerbates the sense of it being a place where bad things can happen and people don't notice or don't care.
Hopkins and McCrea have good chemistry, though the romance between them feels a little, well, not quite contrived, but just a bit shallow. Robinson is more convincing as the wicked gambling house owner, a man who doesn't believe that the rules should apply to him, and who is also used to getting his way.
There's just not a ton to say about this one. The story is good and the last act is pretty interesting. The actors are all good in their roles and there are a few intense sequences worth checking out.