La città proibita

Susanna Foster (Sally) turns up in Frisco and gets a job as a singer at a club owned by Turhan Bey (Dude). Alan Curtis (Rio) is the local gangster boss who clashes with Bey. We also get police captain Thomas Gomez (Dan) prowling around looking to bust some butts. The story concerns Foster trying to trace her brother.

My goodness me, how boring was that! After 45 minutes, there still isn't any story developing. I even fell asleep for a quarter of an hour during the second half and woke to Foster singing "Come all ye faithful" before the film continued in an extremely tedious fashion until its climax. The singing is the only ray of hope in this film and only when showgirl Collette Lyons (Mickey) is performing.

Before watching this film, I was watching an old repeat of a session of the European Parliament on the TV. That's why I put this film on – I needed entertaining. Well, give me the European Parliament. Way more interesting.

Turhan Bey as "Dude"? Is this the same Turhan Bey that enriched all those exotic Technicolor adventures opposite Sabu and Maria Montez, the handsome Hungarian usually cast as Arabian? Indeed it's the same magnetic actor playing a peace-loving tavern owner who wants to bring harmony to the booze halls of the Barbary Coast, much to the annoyance of shifty Alan Curtis, who runs what is ostensibly a "mission" just down the street, a place rife with miscreants and ne'er-do-wells. Toss into the mix fresh-faced virginal vocalist Susanna Foster, fresh from the East and searching for her long-lost brother, and conflicts build, bolstered by roistering, ebullient turns by such Universal stalwarts as blustery Andy Devine and crafty Samuel S. Hinds.

Toss into the mix two extended bar-room brawls, plenty of unexpected sentiment and some classy singing, and what results is a Western in the spirits of Destry Rides Again--not quite in the same class, but nevertheless more entertaining than one might except and needing a really good DVD transfer. Go Turhan!