Drama

Romance

Music

San Francisco

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

United States of America

English

Clark Gable

Jeanette MacDonald

Spencer Tracy

Jack Holt

Jessie Ralph

Ted Healy

Shirley Ross

Margaret Irving

Harold Huber

Edgar Kennedy

Al Shean

William Ricciardi

Kenneth Harlan

Roger Imhof

Charles Judels

Russell Simpson

Bert Roach

Warren Hymer

Adrienne D'Ambricourt

Gertrude Astor

Irving Bacon

King Baggot

Margaret Bert

Sidney Bracey

G. Pat Collins

Nigel De Brulier

Vernon Dent

Tom Dugan

John George

D.W. Griffith

Bronislau Kaper

Frank Mayo

Tom McGuire

John 'Skins' Miller

James Murray

William H. O'Brien

Dennis O'Keefe

Lillian Rich

William Ripley Dorr

Jason Robards Sr.

Frank Sheridan

Harry Strang

Ben Taggart

Dorothy Vernon

Rosemary Theby

Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Anita Loos

W.S. Van Dyke

Robert E. Hopkins

Harry McAfee

Edwin B. Willis

John Emerson

Adrian

Herbert Stothart

Oliver T. Marsh

Edward Ward

Cedric Gibbons

Bernard H. Hyman

Tom Held

John Hoffman

Douglas Shearer

Herman J. Mankiewicz

CinemaSerf

I sometimes found Jeanette MacDonald to be a sort of singing hybrid of Bette Davis and Binnie Barnes! She reminds me very much of that here in this engaging, if slightly long, romantic tale set just before the infamous San Francisco earthquake. "Mary Blake" arrives in the city looking for a job and she alights on the owner of the "Paradise Café". He's the suave and savvy "Blackie Norton" (Clark Gable) and he takes quite a shine to her. So too does his rather wealthier and more high-brow competitor "Burley" (Jack Holt) who might be a better fit for this girl's operatic ambitions. What now ensues sees the chemistry between MacDonald and Gable ebb and flow against a background of crookedness, envy and some good old-fashioned thuggery. Trying to help everyone stay on the right track is his childhood friend "Tim" (Spencer Tracy) who now just happens to be the local priest, a dab hand with a boxing glove, and a man who refuses to see evil in just about anyone. "Mary" has some tough choices to make, and those around her seem perfectly happy to make it for her if she doesn't - so which way is she going to turn? There's no doubt that MacDonald could sing, and her performances here are powerful and at times quite mischievous as her semi-operatic numbers illustrate quite well her character's struggle to fit into a society that wanted music hall numbers and not a good dose of "Faust"! Gable brings his usual lighthearted charm to the proceedings and there are a couple of amiable scenes from the rags-to-riches "Maisie" (Jessie Ralph) to remind us that just about everyone in that city started from nothing - even those on it's exclusive Nob Hill. The photography and visual effects at the end are really quite impressive and the audio of both the musical and thunderous elements of destruction work really quite well on a big screen too. It's not a plot that really stands out, but everyone here works well together to provide an enjoyable reminder of not just these stars, but also of the variety of Vaudeville entertainers that our forebears watched on stage.

San Francisco (1936) -  HD Trailer

Best Movies

San Francisco

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Clark Gable

Jeanette MacDonald

Spencer Tracy

Jack Holt

Jessie Ralph

Ted Healy

Shirley Ross

Margaret Irving

Harold Huber

Edgar Kennedy

Box office

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