"BARBARY COAST."

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 1, 2 January 1936, Page 14

"BARBARY COAST."

A vivid and picturesque drama of early days of San Francisco, telling of the life lived by the inhabitants of that' squalid, lawless collection of saloons and stores which formed the gateway to the land of gold, is "Barbary Coast," which was recently screened privately in Wellington, and is shortly to open here. 'On a current of swiftly-changing scenes and vivid situations of the highest dramatic power the story sweeps on over the triumphant career of the man who owned the city by the force of his will and by his utter ruthlessness, and tells at last of his fall before the powers of law and order. The role of this monster, with his inward struggle against a love greater than his inhumanity, is undoubtedly the greatest success yet to be achieved by that great character actor Edward* G. Robinson. Miriam Hopkins, playing a role oddly similar to that of Becky, Sharp/rises to greater heights as the adventuress "Swan" Rutledge, whose man-hunt for a . wealthy husband among the miners of San • Francisco leads her into the dance hall, and into the arms of Chamalis, the central figure of the story. Joel McCrea, as the young miner, captivated by the charms of the beautiful "Swan" and ruined by the gambling wheel of Chanalis, giving a; really fine portrayal. The acting in the entire picture is very fine indeed, and the atmosphere of the San Francisco of 1849 is captured from - the (start. For the student of the drama, as well as for the average picture-goer, "Barbary Coast" is one of those films which arc unfortunately only too rare.