La madone du désir

Well that looks very like a western from Republic Pictures where the settings have nothing to do with splendid landscapes, Death Valley desert, Monument Valley jawdropping view, you won't see any Indians vs cavalry charge, no pursuit between posse and outlaws in the wilderness. No, this is a Barbary Coast western, taking mostly place indoors, as many Joseph Kane's western from the golden Republic Pictures era. It takes place in saloons, cabarets, government offices, speaking of rotten politicians, vigilantes and also some romance; it looks like a historical period topic of the conquest of the West. Well, why not? Joel Mc Crea is also in the cast, with the gorgeous Yvonne de Carlo and it is a Robert Parrish's film; one of the earliest of the director. Not the movie that I will remember the most from this director.

All dressed in white ,except in the last sequences,Yvonne De Carlo reigns over the movie.At the time,IMHO,only Ava Gardner surpassed her in beauty.So we can forgive Robert Parish if he often forgets his script which is rather desultory for a western and anyway is not much interesting in the first place .You can't make new things out of (already) old :a tycoon who wants to have the whole town under his thumb (Sidney Blackmer was a fine villain,remember Roman Castevet?),shameless politician,bribery and corruption... and a noble hero played by aging Joel McCrea who could be De Carlo's father.His first line when he sees the hanged man is full of humor.

Parrish made better westerns in the late fifties such as "saddle the wind" and " the wonderful country".His foray into sci-fi gave an (overlooked) memorable movie: "Journey to the far side of the sun" aka "doppelganger".

In his younger days Joel McCrea made a trip to frontier San Francisco in Samuel Goldwyn's Barbary Coast. A more mature McCrea makes a comeback in the Pacific city in The San Francisco Story, another film with some of the same plot elements.

In The San Francisco Story, McCrea and sidekick/partner Richard Erdman find themselves now prosperous mine owners and are in town for a little celebrating. Some years earlier McCrea was involved with the Vigilantes when law and order broke down there, but now he just wants to party hearty.

But newspaper owner/publisher Onslow Stevens wants McCrea involved with the Vigilantes again. A truly corrupt party boss played by Sidney Blackmer owns everything in the town including the cops and the courts, so the Vigilantes have been reactivated.

McCrea isn't crazy about opposing Blackmer, but when he sees Blackmer toting Yvonne DeCarlo on his arm, then it becomes a matter of hormones more than citizenship.

The San Francisco Story is a good fit for Joel McCrea in his B picture western period of his career. He gets solid support from the rest of the cast and one really to watch out for is Florence Bates who is playing a part Marie Dressler would have done years earlier as a waterfront character who Shanghais people for fun and profit, except if she likes you. She likes McCrea and what's not to like?

And there's not much to dislike in The San Francisco Story.

This is a standard western with nice dialogues and good cast Joel McCrea as Rick. Elson and Yvonne De Carlo as Adelaide McCall. Story is nice although sets are too poorly done. If only it was filmed in colour and with a longer footage it would have easily been an A western instead of a B one. Docks sequence is almost a film of its own and some more footage could have been a nice addition to the movie, widely developing the story and making it more interesting adding more secondary aspects. Without it, it still remains a very decent and entertaining western.

The only real positive distinction this movie has is Joel McCrea in the lead. He was terrific in westerns and he's very good in the this one. However, the plot is not great. 95% of all westerns basically boil down to 3 or 4 plots...and this one has the big baddie who is trying to take over the new state of California. Yep, Andrew Cain is yet ANOTHER big greedy baddie...a plot seriously overused in westerns. And, not surprisingly, there is a hot babe who comes between the two men (Yvonne DeCarlo).

While the acting is good an makes up for the dullness of the plot, there is something that retired history teachers would not like about this film--the highly inaccurate details. The guns are all circa 1870s and the set clearly is a typical western set--but it's supposed to be San Franciso in the 1850s. Hand guns were almost never revolvers and very few folks in the town would have been walking about in cowboy apparel. After all, by then it was an up and coming coastal city...not Deadwood or some other western locale.

So is this one worth seeing? Well, possibly. McCrea is great...he almost always is. But the plot might be too familiar and you need to look past the fact that it's not at all historically accurate.