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San Francisco
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 4470
Price: $14.95
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"San Francisco, open your Golden Gate." If the classic city anthem isn't part of your life already, it will be after a viewing of this 1936 hit, a wonderful blend of cornpone, spectacle, and song. It's set in 1906, the year the earthquake flattened much of Baghdad by the Bay. Like the disaster movies that followed (including <I>In Old Chicago</I>, a Fox cash-in from a couple of years later), <I>San Francisco</I> slowly establishes its characters before unleashing the destruction. Clark Gable is Blackie Norton, a cocky and ruthless Barbary Coast character whose heart is--well, not softened, but at least dented by the arrival of an opera singer (Jeanette MacDonald) looking for a job. He hires her for his rowdy club, while his childhood chum, Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), disapproves. As they would subsequently demonstrate in <I>Test Pilot</I> and <I>Boom Town</I>, Gable and Tracy have great he-man rapport together (Blackie's rampant maleness is challenged only by the fact that he knows the priest could punch him out). Director W.S. Van Dyke (<I>The Thin Man</I>) keeps everything cracking along, except for those moments when Cultcha rears its head and MacDonald sings an aria. When the quake hits, and the fire follows, the movie uncorks some really quite awesome special effects, including the unforgettable image of a street heaving up and separating under people's feet--much superior to the disaster effects in <I>The Last Days of Pompeii</I>, made just a year earlier. Needless to say, this could only be MGM in its heyday, laying on the big budget, an acceptable level of naughtiness, and a dose of religious turnaround in the end. It worked then; it still does. <I>--Robert Horton</I>
Viewer Reviews
San Francisco is a fictionalized account of the famous earthquake that devestated the city at the turn of the 20th Century. Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) is a notorious nightclub owner whose intelligence and selfish behavior bring him women and power. When innocent songbird Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) comes to his club to audition, he is instantly attracted to her, but in spite of taking a job from him, she resists his advances. He does what any possessive type would do; he prevents her from working elsewhere. Having him near makes her uncomfortable and afraid of her own feeling for him, but advice from the local priest (Spencer Tracy) keeps her head mostly clear.
Then comes the earthquake.
Not all of the visuals are impressive and sometimes it is obvious that Gable is standing in front of a screen, but overall the big event is powerful and exciting. Huge chunks of scenery come down before our very eyes and watching them dynamite the city is chilling. There are plenty of historical inaccuracies in the film, the most common one being the dialogue. The actors say "on the level" and other such 30s expressions quite often. Anita Loos is a famous and talented writer, but she did not take the time period of the film into account. The relationship between Gable and Tracy is a common one in films of this era; just look at Manhattan Melodrama or Angels With Dirty Faces. But it always works; San Francisco is no different.
Also included on this DVD is a short documentary about Gable called Tall, Dark, and Handsome. It is a look at his life and fame, but the length prevents it from being anything stellar.
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San Francisco
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