After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him rise to a position of power in the vice industry of the infamous Barbary Coast.

James Cagney
as Bat Morgan

Margaret Lindsay
as Jean Barrat

Ricardo Cortez
as Paul Morra

Lili Damita
as Belle Morra

Donald Woods
as Charles Ford

Barton MacLane
as Spider Burke

George E. Stone
as Solomon "Solly" Green

Joe King
as James "Jim" Daley (as Joseph King)

Addison Richards
as William Coleman

Robert McWade
as Judge Stephen Crawford