The Duke vs. Joseph Schildkraut for the heart of Ann Dvorak and dominance of the San Francisco gambling scene. Wayne is smart and strong, Dvorak is beautiful and unobtainable and Schildkraut is charming and both conniving and dignified. William Frawley provides guidance and laughs as Duke's mentor, Wolf Wiley. This is a classic love triangle/rivalry, the kind that has sustained literature down through the ages. It's good old fashioned fun. I wouldn't call it original but it is well made and fun to watch. I doff my hat especially to Schildkraut for successfully playing a character who is somehow both amoral and principled.

Happy-go-lucky Montana rancher John Wayne comes to San Francisco, wins and loses a fortune in a night, and begins a competition with a sleazy gambling-hall owner for the heart of singer Ann Dvorak. After some lessons from aging card-shark William Frawley, he comes back to town to win back the money and the girl.Another of the Duke's lightweight, nineteen-forties Republic pictures, this okay romantic melodrama features a likable Wayne performance, some fairly lavish sets and costumes, and a neat low-budget recreation of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.This isn't the greatest or most memorable of John Wayne vehicles, but it's not the worst either.

Flame of Barbary Coast finds John Wayne as a visiting cowboy from Montana who makes and loses a fortune in a night and goes home busted. He also finds the love of his life in Ann Dvorak, an entertainer at Joseph Schildkraut's place on the Barbary Coast.Schildkraut figures that Dvorak is his personal property. But the Dvorak romantic angle is a side issue because Wayne is figuring on not getting mad, but getting even. He's learned a bit about gambling from an oldtimer at the trade in William Frawley. Of course Wayne and Schildkraut's rivalry is interrupted by the famous earthquake of 1906. As this is Republic Films and not Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, the special effects are nice, but not near as good as those from MGM. As this was Republic's prestige film of the year, I'm sure it was the best that miserly old Herbert J. Yates could afford.The most interesting member of the cast is Schildkraut, a scion of the old Spanish aristocracy who's chosen to make his living on the Barbary Coast in the dens of iniquity there. He's as in love with Dvorak as Wayne is, but likes his power and notoriety more.Yates took some liberties with San Francisco history in this one. The MGM San Francisco did not bother mentioning any of the local political figures of the day, but Flame on Barbary Coast did and got it wrong. Wayne and Schildkraut square off in an election in 1906 that never took place between Mayor Eugene Schmitz and James D. Phelan. Phelan was in fact Schmitz's predecessor in office and Schmitz didn't lose an election. He got himself impeached for setting a standard of corruption that has had some urban historian calling him the worst big city mayor in American history. Now THAT would be an interesting film. Still the Duke's legion of fans will love him in this one and others will like Joseph Schildkraut.

If you want to see the electric lines in SF in 1906 check out the links listed below from the SF Museum. These two slides in the power point show the lines that were present then.I think that the level of electric service shown in the film was a little advance for 1906, most would not pick upon that. Remember this was a 1945 film, compare it to the 50's not present day films to be fair. Acting talent still beats special effects in my book. Just think what kind of movies John Wayne could do in 2005 with just a few of today's effects. Maybe some one could apply CGI to an older movie? Good movie, to bad we get so few good movies in the current productions.http://www.sfmuseum.org/views/1906.ppt#262,8,Slide 8http://www.sfmuseum.org/views/1906.ppt#264,13,Slide 12Check out the rest of the site worth the time, just as this movie is.