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I love the story about Sam Goldwyn who said that he bought the rights to the title, Barbary Coast, and then said to the writers hired to write a story with that title.

They gave him a story that made a pretty good picture. Edward G. Robinson is at his snarling best as a nineteenth century version of Little Caesar on San Francisco's Barbary Coast during the gold rush days.

Basically Miriam Hopkins has come to San Francisco to marry a newly minted millionaire whom she barely knows, but finds he's dead and fortune gone on her arrival. Since there was no real love involved, she doesn't have a problem teaming up with the man who probably had her fiancé robbed and killed, that being Edward G. Robinson.

It's a pretty lawless place San Francisco. It's been newly acquired by the USA in the Mexican War and it being one of the great natural harbors of the world, a perfect arrival point for people traveling by sea to the gold fields. And such law that's operating is pretty much operating for the town bosses. There is a scene where after Brian Donlevy, who's Robinson's chief henchman, kills a man a trial is held right in Robinson's gambling palace. It's an impromptu affair with a crooked judge who naturally finds Donlevy not guilty.

It's no wonder that certain citizens form a vigilante committee to restore some kind of justice to San Francisco. All part of the colorful history of that place. And that part of the film is well done.

Where Barbary Coast fails is in the romance department. Miriam Hopkins though a woman of conscience has a practical side to her. The weakness of the film is in Joel McCrea's performance. He's a prospector who having made his fortune wants to return home. He has a chance encounter with Hopkins and she takes a shine to him and McCrea doesn't know she's Robinson's main squeeze.

Now I'm a big fan of Joel McCrea, the most virtuous of heroes Hollywood ever produced. But in this one, he's not really virtuous as much as he's an idiot. Let's just say that I cannot understand why Hopkins wants anything to do with him. A much stronger character might have believably taken her from Robinson, but not McCrea in this film.

Barbary Coast was responsible for the first real notices of two prominent character actors. Walter Brennan had been knocking around for years, but he received his first real attention as a player as waterfront character Old Atrocity. And with minimal dialog, Brian Donlevy made his first real impression on film audiences as Robinson's strong arm killer.

It's entertaining, but I'd mute the sound when Barbary Coast turns away from the action.

During the gold rush, Robinson runs San Francisco like a mafia boss. Enter Hopkins as a gold-digging young lady, who apparently is just about the only white woman in the whole city, given how the men react to her. The familiar cast also includes McCrea as an earnest young prospector, Donlevy as Robinson's hatchet man, and Brennan as an old guy named "Old Atrocity." Entertaining film has a decent story but is marred by acting that is either wooden or melodramatic, with Hopkins particularly guilty of the latter. It's fun watching Robinson play the heavy. Hawks does a nice job of evoking foggy San Francisco of a bygone era.

Apparently Sam Goldwyn picked the words Barbary Coast as a title then called in his writers and told them to write a story. That was the way they did things at Hollywood studios in the thirties.

This is actually a pretty entertaining movie that catches some of the anything goes atmosphere of San Francisco in gold rush days.Edward G. Robinson is miscast (and has to wear some peculiar costumes) in his role as a bad guy but he gives it everything he's got and some of his scenes are quite effective. Miriam Hopkins is very good as a gold digger of the non mining kind and Joel Mcrea as her hearts desire spouts some poetic dialogue quite eloquently.

Good drama of the typically Hollywood kind.

Enjoyable adventure is filmed at a lively clip and delivers a fine entertainment. A bit heavy on the ham in a couple of places but entertaining nonetheless. Edward G.Robinson is fine as always although he should have rethought the earring. He is full of brio and shows his versatility but his costume does him no favors. He and Miriam are a fine pair even though he despised her offscreen. A good actress if a bit dithery she managed to destroy her starring career with cheap tricks and constant attempts to upstage her co-stars. The story goes that Edward G. became fed up with it and when the script called for him to strike her he was so frustrated with her shenanigans that he didn't pull the slap and sent her flying to the applause of the assembled crew.

When a woman arrives in San Francisco during the height of the Klondike gold rush to find her mail-order fiancé dead she takes up with a shady - and jealous - casino owner before falling for an honest prospector. Although he sports an ear-ring and walks around like he's waiting for the rest of his pirate fancy-dress costume to turn up, Edward G. Robinson pretty much just does his usual gangster routine in Barbary Coast. Not that there's anything wrong with that: his controlling mob boss Louis Chamalis, is actually given a pleasingly sly sense of humour and depth of character, and is also given the opportunity to go out with some class when he meets his inevitable fate. Director Howard Hawks creates a wonderfully evocative portrait of a muddy, fog-bound San Francisco filled with morally compromised larger-than-life characters. Recommended.