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James Cagney (The Public Enemy, The Mayor of Hell) stars as an aimless sailor who makes a name for himself in 1850s San Francisco, running bars and casinos on the notoriously violent Barbary Coast. He falls in love with an upper-crust gal (Margaret Lindsay), but as the wild Barbary behavior spreads and claims a few lives, she questions whether she can be with anyone related to it. When the ‘good citizens’ of San Francisco decide to impart vigilante justice on the Coast, Cagney is sentenced to hang for a murder he didn’t commit — unless a woman’s heart can convince the mob otherwise.
Frisco Kid is a mostly unremarkable film with pacing problems, clunky editing, and a script that never successfully has us rooting for Cagney like we should. Sol Polito’s photography is a highlight, capturing a dark, foggy, oceanside ambience in several scenes. The acting is mostly pretty good. Cagney’s charisma shines through at times. George E. Stone is memorable as a kindly thrift shop owner who looks after Cagney when he’s nearly Shanghaied in the opening act. As the romantic lead, Margaret Lindsay has some awkward moments. The climactic clash between the vigilante mob and the Coast proprietors is almost a good sequence, if only it carried a little more dramatic weight.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon (Invisible Stripes, Marked Woman). With Ricardo Cortez, Donald Woods, Barton MacLane, and Joseph King.