Flame of Barbary Coast

• Directed by Joseph Kane
• May 28, 1945

A cowboy and a gambling tycoon compete for the hand of a dancehall girl in the infamous district.

I’m kind of surprised that Flame of Barbary Coast does not get a little more love than what it apparently does-which is almost none. I think it is as entertaining as the likes of McLintock! It is not a rip-roaring comedy but an good film that you will enjoy.

Then again in a career as long as Wayne’s was or with the number of films he did, some works are bound to slip through the cracks. Flame of Barbary Coast is available for free on YouTube or for purchase on bargain basement quality DVDs yet it’s a fun and bouncy adventure as well as an early starring role for John Wayne himself.

As such it is a lighter romcom Western film which features the usual love triangle of early John Wayne films where John Wayne’s character falls in love with the first woman he meets and eventually essentially wins her over from what amounts to the chief villain.

The one thing that gets me about this movie is that Wayne’s character of Duke Fergus makes some seriously big decisions in order to win the heart of a woman he barely knows. At the beginning of the movie Duke is apparently just breezing through San Francisco to collect a debt from a man that turns out to essentially run the San Francisco. After meeting a beautiful dancer and they connect, Duke decides to park his ass in San Francisco and build a house and start his own club. How long has it been for him?

Really well-done is that opening scene where the members of our love triangle are initially introduced. They trade a great deal of well written innuendo. Our villain Tito Morell (Joseph Schildkraut) sees that Duke is checking out Flaxen (Ann Dvorak). They let each know where they stand via what on the surface is a discussion of a horse.

The stage was set, and we knew where everyone stood. Duke was the manliest man with a bit of roguish charm who always went after what he wanted. Flaxen was a charmer and a flirt who liked the attention of men. And Morell was a man that didn’t like to lose and kept his cards close to his vest.

Morell is an interesting villain-at least courtesy of the actor playing him. In many of his films, the Wayne romantic nemesis who is also the villain can be a bit weak or just bland, but Morell was sinister and shady and probably as dangerous as a character could get for this type of movie at this time. He was also a bit charming and even at moments likeable. Morell and by extension his family are so bad that there’s a local society which is essentially trying to get rid of get rid of them.

Flaxen (real name Ann) knew how to toy with the men in her life. As the movie goes along, it is shown she’s had several suitors who proposed marriage and excepted none. It’s implied that none measured up to her standards in whatever game she was playing with them. Creepily many of them seemed quite old. Gray hair and wrinkles and all that. These dudes were heavily into Geritol and telling stories about walking uphill both ways.

We have two relatively familiar faces either by John Wayne films or in general. Paul Fix was a thug working for Morell. But the real interesting member of the cast for me is William Frawley of I Love Lucy fame as Wolf Wylie. Wolf was basically Wayne’s Obi-Wan Kenobi that guides him in his struggle against Morell and teaches him the skills needed to begin to overcome the villain. He is charming and affable and as far from Fred Mertz as he could get.

Flame of Barbary Coast is very much a product of its time. As such the romance moves rather quickly. It’s based more on lust and physical appearance than it is anything else. At least at the outset, but that is more than enough to convince Duke to do what he has to do. I would’ve liked a few minutes here and there to at least give them a little something more substantive to work with. I’m not expecting complexity, but just something a little more. It doesn’t hurt the overall movie, but it would’ve certainly improved it.

What bothers me most is that Morell-a man with thugs and enforcers who is implied to have ordered killings-gets reframed as not a bad guy by the end and allowed to stay in his position of local authority. This is not uncommon in older movies (or even today) but is rather abrupt and all things considered makes no sense. He is a real turd!

Despite that this is a fun and ultimately enjoyable movie. The performances and directing are good. There is nothing absolutely amazing here but it certainly excels at entertaining. It is fun but not something forgettable.

Is Flame of Barbary Coast the greatest Western ever made? No but it is a fun and entertaining entry in John Wayne’s catalog. While not one of his better-known films, it should get more love than what it does. It’s definitely good viewing that will not disappoint.