Excellent but underrated film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Lesser John Wayne vehicle with Duke playing a character named...Duke. Set in early Twentieth Century San Francisco (a popular setting for many movies made during the classic Hollywood era), Duke plays a gambler who falls for a saloon singer (a miscast Ann Dvorak) and crosses swords with accented villain Joseph Schildkraut, who believes the lady belongs to him. Dvorak, about ten years past her prime (career-wise not looks; she was still lovely) was a poor fit for a sultry singer that turns men's heads. By contrast, Virginia Grey appears in a supporting role and seems a much better fit for the lead role. Dvorak also has remarkably little chemistry with John Wayne. Not to bag on her. She was a great actress, particularly in her pre-Code films where she had grittier roles than this. Schildkraut was a decent actor who certainly could make you hate him. But every film I've seen where Duke's opponent is a wimpy tycoon or bureaucrat or something always seems to suffer for it. The villain in a John Wayne movie needs to be intimidating. This guy just isn't. Creepy at best. For his part, Duke does fine. Not really his type of role as written on the page but he sort of makes it his. Worth a look for Wayne fans but it's not one of his best.

In Republic's musical remake of "San Francisco", the songs are mostly handled by Ann Dvorak, although Virginia Grey also has two or three. As might be expected, production values are extremely lavish by Republic's usual standards. The earthquake is spectacularly staged, even though it occupies less screen footage than the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer version. The film also benefits greatly from Robert De Grasse's expert photography. He even manages to make Ann Dvorak look enticingly attractive. Her Adele Palmer costumes also help. Joseph Kane's direction rises well above his usual humble standard, making full use of the spectacular sets with effective crane and tracking shots. Dick Van Enger's snappy film editing also helps. The support cast headed by Joseph Schildkraut and Paul Fix is A-1. Snappy musical numbers with their nice chorus lines and zippy score also come as a nice surprise. And even the dialogue is remarkably bright and with-it by Republic standards. Altogether a most enjoyable effort which actually seems to improve on subsequent viewings.

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.

Republic Pictures attempt at a prestige picture, for their tenth anniversary, is a dismal failure. In 1936 MGM made a marvellous film called "San Francisco" about a saloon owner and his romance with a singer set around the 1906 earthquake. In 1945 "Flame of Barbary Coast" takes the same characters and even the same setting. But this time instead of Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, we have John Wayne and Ann Dvorak. And instead of spectacular special effects for the earthquake we have one chandelier fall down and lots of stock footage of fires!Why did they do this? Wayne is awful playing a character called "Duke", but he is "Olivier" in comparison to the woeful Dvorak. Someone seems to have told Miss Dvorak to smile - and she does throughout the movie, whether she's facing an earthquake, a duel between her lovers, or permanent paralysis. And she couldn't sing, but she is given several dreary and hideously choreographed numbers. Poor Joseph Schildkraut is there as the baddie and provides a couple of moments of wry humour.Mind you how could anyone act with this appalling dialogue. For example:After the earthquake Wayne meets Schildkraut in the tent city that has been set up. Both love Dvorak but she has been hurt and has been asking for Schildkraut. Wayne fills him in on her condition.Wayne: She's paralyzed.Pause. Music swells.Schildkraut: It's gonna be tough.Some cliched camera angles (the stage seen through the holes in the wheel of fortune) are used ad nauseum and the plot makes no sense at all. Wayne, for example, runs for mayor and gets into a massive fight with Schildkraut's boys who are destroying ballot papers. Having finally regained the correct tally sheets that elect him mayor he announces he is going back to Montana! Dvorak takes Wayne on a tour of all the gambling houses and, despite the protests of all the owners, only has to wink at the dealers for them to allow Wayne to win $16,000. And the dealers aren't even reprimanded.What was everyone thinking? Or weren't they?