I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

Mediocre Warner Bros. period piece which goes off to a good start, but is hampered by a predictable narrative, an unfocused storyline and a lack of exciting moments, not to mention Jimmy's terrible hairdo in the later stages.The picturesque Barbary Coast setting is a plus, though, and this one's the first movie I've seen, that features a lynch mob whose anger you actually understand (though the people are portrayed just as sheepishly dumb as always.) Not Cagney's best hour, to be sure.5 out of 10 hooked hands

With most of James Cagney's early films, his character portrayal is generally a bit flamboyant, even over the top at times. In "Frisco Kid", it appears that Cagney found a way to take command of his role with some reserve, as his character rises from itinerant sailor to one of the most powerful men in San Francisco of the mid-1850's. He does it with both his fists and his charm, and at times it's easy to overlook the fact that he's the main villain in the story.The setting is the three block section of San Francisco known as the Barbary Coast at a time when the proper citizenry is just about fed up with the way the local underworld bosses rule their corner of the city. Early in the picture it appears that Bat Morgan (Cagney) might actually convert to the good guy side when he first meets Jean Barrat (Margaret Lindsay), managing editor of the San Francisco Tribune. But it becomes clear enough that they live on opposite sides of the tracks, even as Morgan's interest in Barrat becomes more than social.What makes the picture a bit troublesome for me is the lack of accounting for the story's chronology. While Morgan states that he'll build the biggest and most lavish gambling house in San Francisco, it seems like the 'Bella Pacific' virtually appears in the very next scene. His rise to the top of the Barbary underworld also seems like it happened overnight. Granted, the events are compressed for the sake of the story, but it's hard to imagine how all of a sudden, a sailor takes over an entire town just because he set his mind to it. One might also wonder why he hadn't done something more on a grand scale before arriving in San Francisco, but then I guess there wouldn't have been a movie.There were some interesting casting decisions made for the film, particularly Ricardo Cortez as the suave but menacing saloon owner Paul Morra. Barton MacLane appears as a roughneck named Spider Burke, and George E. Stone is effective as Morgan's best friend Solly Green. It was also cool to see a number of character actors that one usually finds in the era's Western pictures, like Addison Richards, Joe King and Fred Kohler.The one thing that struck me some time into the picture had to do with the story taking place in 1854. I had to keep reminding myself that it was still a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War, with no context in the story as to what was taking place in the rest of the country. It was just a bit disorienting, especially when most of the scenes played out like they would have been from the latter part of the century.

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.