San Francisco (1936)

Cassie Vogelpohl

San Francisco is probably best described as “a disaster film with songs.” The opening scene details a New Year’s Eve celebration in the streets of San Francisco in the year 1906. The spirited party is interrupted by a fire in a nearby building, from which Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) witnesses two children jump to the firemen below. The fire is assumed to be part of the lawlessness contributing to San Francisco’s reputation as “the most wicked and corrupt city in America”. After the fire scene, a group of townsmen approach Blackie and ask him to run for Supervisor in hopes he will bring order to the city.

As Blackie sits in his cabaret, a mysterious lady walks in looking for work. Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) is the beautiful daughter of a country parson with a phenomenal voice – which she displays over and over again throughout the movie. Blackie hires Mary to sing on stage at Norton’s Paradise. Shortly thereafter, socialite Jack Burley of the Tivoli Opera House offers Mary an audition.

The remainder of the film plays out Mary’s struggle to choose between the man that she loves--bad boy Blackie--and Jack, the man that holds her ticket to singing opera. Mary does perform in an opera at the Tivoli and is an instant sensation. She returns to the Paradise to star in a show, but she storms out after a befriended priest, Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy), forces her to realize the damaging effects that Blackie has on her reputation. It would seem as if the leading love affair would end there, but as the back cover of the DVD states, “If love and religion can’t reform Blackie, Mother Nature will.” Enter the onset of a long earthquake sequence. The ground shakes, buildings collapse, bricks crush innocent bystanders, streets split, and the city begins to burn out of control. Blackie, realizing his love for Mary, searches endlessly through the rubble for her. After walking around the city in a daze, Blackie finally comes upon Mary. The two lead a singing chorus through the streets and a vision of a rebuilt San Francisco is left as the final image.

MGM’s San Francisco is a romantic drama released in 1936 and was part of the production trend called the prestige picture. Traditionally, prestige pictures were injected with star power, glamorous trimmings, and elaborate effects. San Francisco fits all of these criteria; it contains big stars, elegant costumes, and the fantastic special effects of the earthquake scene. The picture was a huge success and inspired a series of big-budget disaster films. There are also elements in this film which are suggestive of the Western genre. As previously mentioned, Blackie was called upon to run for office and clean up the town. The city of San Francisco is portrayed as a corrupt place to live, and as one of the movie’s posters reads, [Mary] “Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!” Although the disaster aspect of this film moves in and trumps any ideas that might have occurred of Blackie cleaning up the lawless town, the Western sentiments are felt by the audience nonetheless.