San Francisco

San Francisco

MGM, 1936, B/W, 115 minutes, ****

Released June, 1936


Romantic drama combines with humor, starpower combines with lavish spectacle and the walls come tumbling down! This Academy Award winning extravaganza's street-splitting, brick-cascading, fire-raging recreation of the cataclysmic earthquake remains "one of the greatest action sequences in the history of the cinema, rivalling the chariot race in both Ben Hurs" (Adrian Turner, Time Out Film Guide).



Clark Gable plays rakish Barbary Coast kingpin Blackie Norton. Jeanette MacDonald portrays a singer torn by her love for Blackie and her need to succeed among the operagoing elite. Earning the first of nine career Best Actor Oscar nominations, Spencer Tracy is a priest who supplements spiritual advice with a mean right hook. He urges Blackie to change. But if love and religion can't reform Blackie, Mother Natur will.

This is one of those rare musicals that is loaded with music from one end to the other and has a good story to go along with it. It's the story of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (as portrayed by MGM, which means it's mostly fiction). Technically, it's not a musical, but it sure has a lot of music in it! Jeanette MacDonald is at her best, and this legendary film should not be missed by anyone who enjoys classic films - musical or otherwise. I mean, what a cast! Gable, Tracy and MacDonald! The spectacular earthquake scene rivals special effects of today.



It's interesting to note that MGM made a point of hiring many down-and-out actors and crew who had not been able to make the transition from silent films to "talkies," and many of them can be seen in the film here and there. Also, famed director D. W. Griffith helped direct the film.



The film begins with the statement: "San Francisco - guardian of the Golden Gate - stands today a queen among sea-ports - industrious, mature, respectable. But perhaps she dreams of the queen and city she was -- splendid and sensuous, vulgar and magnificent - that perished suddenly with a cry still heard in the hearts of those who knew her, at exactly Five-thirteen A. M. April 18, 1906." The Story begins in San Francisco on New Years Eve: December 31, 1905.



Produced by: John Emerson and Bernard H. Hyman

Director: W.S. Van Dyke II and D. W. Griffith

Screen Play by: Anita Loos

From the Story by: Robert E. Hopkins

Musical Direction: Herbert Stothart

Song: "San Franciso" by Gus Kahn, Bronislau Kaper, Walter Jurmann

Song: "Would You" by Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed

Musical Score: Edward Ward

Dances Staged by: Val Raset

Opreatic Sequences Staged by: William von Wymetal

Art Director: Cedric Gibbons

Associates: Arnold Gillespie, Harry McAfee, Edwin B. Willis

Gowns by: Adrian

Recording Director: Douglas Shearer

Special Effects: James Basevi and A. Arnold Gillespie

Photographed by: Oliver T. Marsh

Montage Sequences: John Hoffman

Film Editor: Tom Held



Awards: Academy Award for Best Sound Recording; Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Best Director, Best Original Story, Best Assistant Director (Joseph Newman)



Cast: Clark Gable [Blackie Norton], Jeanette MacDonald [Mary Blake], Spencer Tracy [Father Tim Mullin], Jack Holt [Jack Burley], Jessie Ralph [Mrs. Maisie Burley], Ted Healy [Mat], Shirley Ross [Trixie], Margaret Irving [Della Bailey], Harold Huber ["Babe"], Edgar Kennedy [Sheriff], Al Shean [Professor], Kenneth Harlan ["Chick"], Roger Imhof ["Alaska"], Charles Judels [Tony], Russell Simpson ["Red" Kelly], Bert Roach [Freddy Duane], Warren B. Hymer [Hazeltine], Additional Cast: William Ricciardi [Baldini], Frank Mayo [Dealer], Tandy MacKenzie [Faust], Tudor Williams [Mephistopheles], Spec O'Donnell [Man Praying], Bob McKenzie [Messenger], Adrienne d'Ambricourt [Mme. Albani], Nigel de Brulier [Old Man], Mae Digges, Nyas Berry [Dancers], John Kelly [Kelly], James Farley [Charlie], Pat O'Malley, Otho Wright [Firemen], Gertrude Astor [Drunk's Girl], Tom Dugan [Drunk], Vince Barnett [Drunk], Belle Mitchell [Mary's Maid], Fred M. Fagan [Waiter], W. J. O'Brien [Waiter], James Brewster, Samuel Glasser, John Pearson [Stooges], Jason Robards Sr. [Father], William "Billy" Newell [Man in Breadline], James Macklin [Young Man], Tom McGuire [Bartender], Wilbur Mack [Bartender], Harry Myers [Reveler], Edward Hearn [Parishioner], Henry Roquemore [Drinker], G. Pat Collins [Bartender], Harry Strang [Soldier], Vernon Dent [Fat Man], Irving Bacon [Picnicker], Orrin Burke [Pompous Man], David Thursby [Man], John "Skins" Miller [Man on Stretcher], Helen Shipman [Bit], George Guhl [Bit Man], Edward Earle [Bit Man], Maude Allen [Elderly Woman], Jack Baxley [Kinko], Carl Stockdale [Salvation Army Man], Anthony Jowitt [Society Man], Jane Barnes [Girl], Richard Carle, Oscar Apfel, Frank Sheridan, Ralph Lewis [Members of Founders' Club], Chester Gan [Jowl Lee], Jack Kennedy [Mike], Cy Kendall [Headwaiter], Don Rowan [Coast Type], Sherry Hall [Well-Wisher], Ben Taggart [Cop], Dennis O'Keefe [New Year's Celebrant], Charles Sullivan [Fire Spectator], Beatrice Roberts [Forrestal Guest], Bruce Mitchell [Heckler], Sidney Bracey [Burley's Butler], Tommy Bupp [Bill], Sam Ash [Orchestra Leader], Bud Geary [Man Restraining Blackie after Quake], George Magrill [Marine]



Musical Program: [0:00] Overture: includes "San Francisco;" [0:03] Auld Lang Syne / (There'll Be) A Hot Time in the Old Town (Tonight) / Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here (played in background by Orchestra, wild partying in the streets); [0:06] Happy New Year (excerpt sung and danced by Shirley Ross and Chorus Girls); [0:07] Noontime (?) (excerpt sung by Ted Healy, interrupted by flying tomatoes); [0:09] After the Ball (part of background score); [0:10] Love Me and the World Is Mine (a few bars sung by Jeannette MacDonald, demonstrating her singing ability for Blackie); [0:18] San Francisco (ballad version sung by Jeanette MacDonald; Blackie wants her to rag it, so she speeds up the tempo a bit); [0:22] A Heart That's Free (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [0:29] The Holy City (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Boys Choir); [0:25] San Francisco (sung by Shirley Ross, Jeanette McDonald and Chorus at political rally); [0:39] Would You (instrumental arrangement played by Orchestra, danced by Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald); [0:42] Would You (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [0:56] opera excerpt* (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [1:00] montage of opera sequences* (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and accompanists); [1:07] Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Der-E (played by Orchestra at The Paradise); [1:21] Sempre Libera (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [1:23] Would You (played by Orchestra in background during dialogue); [1:24] At a Georgia Camp Meeting (played by Orchestra, danced by Minstrels at the Chickens Ball); [1:27] The Philippine Dance (sung by The Golden Gate Trio at the Chickens Ball); [1:29] San Francisco (belted by Jeanette MacDonald and Audience at the Chickens Ball - rousing number!); [1:34] The Earthquake begins [1:50] Nearer My God To Thee (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Chorus at a camp set up on a hill safely away from the burning city); [1:54] Battle Hymn of the Republic (Jeanette MacDonald and Chorus as the survivors march back to town after the fire burns itself out)



*Opera Segments include: Jewel Song (and other excerpts from the opera FAUST); Sempre Libera (from the opera LA TRAVIATA); Me voilà toute seule; Air des bijoux (The Jewel Song); Soldiers' Chorus"; Il se fait tard; Anges Purs