Stars:
John Wayne, Joseph Schildkraut, Ann Dvorak, William Frawley, Virginia Grey, and
Butterfly McQueen
Writer:
Borden Chase
Director:
Joseph Kane
Feature
length: 92 minutes
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 24
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1945/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Republic Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
John
Wayne is “Duke,” a good-hearted Montana Rancher who comes to old San
Francisco to collect a debt from the local casino owner, but falls in love with
the saloon singer, who happens to be casino owner’s fiancé. Another of the
DVD debuts from the Republic Pictures catalogue courtesy of Artisan Home
Entertainment, “Flame Of Barbary Coast” is presented in a black and white
(1.33:1) aspect ratio with an English Monaural 2.0 Soundtrack and optional
English Captions for the hearing impaired.
The
picture quality is nicely detailed, but a few anomalies and a fine grain is
consistently visible throughout and some scenes are definitely too dark with
Wayne’s face unnaturally appearing as if he is sitting in the shadows at
times. The English Monaural Soundtrack has a skip or dropout in the audio that
appears to be from the source used to transfer this film. The night sequences in
old San Francisco have an interesting quality with neon like lighting and
bustling horse drawn carriages and folk moving about. It predates the music
video/”Blade Runner” look by nearly 40 years. It is a shame the film was not
completely restored for this DVD.
The
suggested retail price is only $14.98. “Flame Of Barbary Coast” will debut
on DVD on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 from Artisan Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.