Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jc-osms Terrible title for a watchable Cagney vehicle, which seems like so many of his early films, to move at breakneck speed. Like so many of his major roles, there's a duality at play, with his Bat Morgan character initially winning viewer sympathy by fighting back against bullying gangsters in San Francisco's notorious "Barbary Coast" quarter and loyally looking out for his Jewish sidekick, only to be seduced by the lure of power and money to rise to the top of the greasy pole by being bigger and badder than the competition and getting on-side with the corrupt big-time politician Big Jim Daley.There's love interest too in the prim and proper person of Margaret Lindsay the managing editor of the crusading local paper, whose handsome daily editor Donald Woods serves as uneasy ally, love rival and straight-and-narrow example to Cagney, before invoking one of a series of murdered decent citizens which causes the law-abiding majority to turn to vigilantism in a literally riotous finish with Cagney naturally rejecting the dark-side and even getting the girl.How true the story here is to the growing pains of the real San Francisco, will have to wait until my next visit to the reference library, but the story suffers from Cagney's character whose rise and fall and rise again is too unlikely to seem credible. You feel a better, more straight-forward film would have concentrated on the zealous editor's story rather than Cagney's flawed hero. There also seem to be just too many characters, incidents and plot developments telescoped into the film's short playing time which the editing can't bring together coherently.For once I couldn't believe enough in Cagney's character and felt he gives an untypically mixed performance, although the problem here could be in the writing. Better are Lindsay as the posh proprietor who unconvincingly crosses the tracks for Cagney and Woods as the socially conscious but doomed editor Ford. The mob-scene finale calls for the marshaling of large crowds of actors which is accomplished believably and effectively, but in the end, the all-loose-ends-tied up optimistic ending let's down the preceding drama.For me this was a welcome chance to see the young Cagney in a rarely-screened film. To be fair it's just too fast-paced to really hang together though, better roles, better written and to be honest, better acted, lay ahead for him.

Michael_Elliott Frisco Kid (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The Barbary Coast in San Francisco is the setting in this story of Bat Morgan (James Cagney), the man who would become the countries first racketeer. This is a decent little film but there's not enough energy to keep things moving as well as it should. Cagney, with a funky little haircut, is in good form but this is certainly not one of his greatest roles. The supporting cast is in good form and includes Margaret Lindsay, Ricardo Cortez, Donald Woods and George E. Stone. Cortez steals the show as the top guy in town but Stone adds some very good comic relief as Cagney's buddy. The highlight of the film is a terrific fight sequence between Cagney and a large man with a hook for a hand. The final twenty minutes deal with the city getting tired of the thugs and deciding to take the law into its own hands. We get another mob scene where they want to hang the bad men and this here is where the film should have taken off but things stay pretty bland and never get too exciting.

MartinHafer In some ways, this film is VERY typical of Cagney's films for Warner Brothers in the 1930s--featuring Cagney as a pugnacious and power-driven guy who manages to make it to the top--we've certainly seen all this before! And, along with this character, the production values are very high and the film is quite entertaining. However, at the same time, the film is a bit unusual because the character Cagney plays isn't purely larcenous and mid-way through the film he starts to change his stripes and goes from bad guy to good guy! And, the ending is one of the strangest of the era! Cagney arrives in the Barbary Coast portion of San Francisco in the 1850s--after the Gold Rush has begun and it's in full swing. Cagney is almost shanghaied when the film starts but because he is the hero, he wakes up in time and escapes. Seeing the evil of the town, he decides "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em,...or maybe organize them into a union of sorts". And, very quickly he goes from newbie to boss of the underbelly of society. But, the good people of San Francisco are tired of the sleaze and corrupt government so they resort to the great bastion of freedom and decency--mob rule complete with executions! At least that's the message I seemed to get from the film. Since Cagney sees the light just in time, he tries his best to stop the corruption before the crowds exact vengeance, but for most it's too late. When the mob does assume control, everyone not executed seems pretty happy and the film ends! ODD, ODD, ODD!!!

loza-1 This is not the best film ever made; but, like the curate's egg, it is good in parts.The scene is set not in the wild west but in the early 19th century Barbary Coast of San Francisco. Bat Morgan is a sailor who has just come off his ship but is shanghaied by a gang led by the hook-for-hand villain the Shanghai Duck. He escapes, kills the Shanghai Duck in a fierce fight, starts working for a local shark named Morra. Hethen works himself up to be a local big-shot. he gets involved in a murder in an opera house by using his influence to get Morra the murderer out of jail. Tired of the lawlessness, local lynch mobs are formed. Morra is hanged but Bat Morgan gets a last minute reprieve, after the intercession of his newspaper-owner girlfriend.The plot is patchy and gets silly towards the end, but is rescued by tight direction, catchy background music, and some pretty good performances by some of the cast. Although in my opinion Margaret Lyndsay is not up to much as the newspaper owner, and Damita has very little to do as Morra's live-in girlfriend, Cagney gives his usual 500 per cent in the leading role. The biggest surprise is Ricardo Cortez, once regarded as a Valentino lookalike in the silent films: he makes a superb villain. The fight to the finish with the Shanghai Duck has just got to be Cagney's greatest screen fight.Very watchable.