Barbary Coast, directed by Howard Hawks and scripted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, stars one of the gangster genre’s biggest star, Edward G. Robinson.
Robinson plays a club owner in San Francisco during the gold-rush era, who get romantically involved with Miriam Hopkins.
Joel McCrea is a young prospector who’s also after Hopkins, and the reliable character actor Walter Brennan is cast as Old Atrocity.
You can spot in a bit part the very young David Niven, then under contract with Samuel Goldwyn, who produced the picture.
Oscar Nominations: 1
Cinematography: Ray June
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
This was Ray June’s second nomination for a Goldwyn movie, before moving to another studio, MGM.
The honoree was Hal Mohr, who won for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Mohr still bears the distinction of being the only write-in candidate to have won an Oscar Award
