San Francisco ***** (1936, Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph, Ted Healy, Shirley Ross) – Classic Movie Review 5143

Director W S Van Dyke II’s 1936 romantic melodrama still makes irresistible old-style golden years Hollywood entertainment at its finest, with a trio of great stars in Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy and a superlative MGM support cast all on their best form. It was this first pairing of Gable and MacDonald that was a big deal, and the film’s main selling point attraction.

It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Tracy) and Best Original Story (Robert E Hopkins), but only won for Best Sound, Recording (Douglas Shearer).

Even nowadays, the climactic 10-minute-long MGM studio re-creation of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is quite breathtaking, thanks to the mix of huge sets, special effects, sound work (Douglas Shearer) and montage (John Hoffman).

Gable stars as Blackie Norton, the tough saloon keeper bar boss of The Paradise gambling joint on the Barbary Coast in 1906. Tracy plays Father Tim Mullin, his priest buddy. And MacDonald plays Mary Blake, his beautiful saloon singer. Mary dallies with the unthinkable idea of swapping Blackie – it’s Clark Gable for heaven’s sake! – for wealthy Nob Hill impresario rival Jack Burley (Jack Holt), who would help her achieve her ambition to become an opera star, making Blackie and Jack keen rivals for her affections.

MacDonald is singing her socks off just as the big one hits Frisco and the kitsch, outrageously heart-tugging ending brings tears to your eyes. There are no loose ends or loose moments in the expert script by Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), based on a story by Robert E Hopkins.

MacDonald sings Charles Gounod’s Faust aria Air des bijoux (The Jewel Song), a ballad Would You? (music by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed) and the fantastic title number San Francisco (music by Bronislau Kaper and Walter Jurmann, lyrics by Gus Kahn).

At MGM, MacDonald insisted that Gable should co-star, but he refused at first: ‘I just sit there while she sings. None of that stuff for me.’

It also co-stars Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph, Ted Healy and Shirley Ross.

Also in the cast are Margaret Irving, Harold Huber, Al Shean, Edgar Kennedy, William Ricciardi, Kenneth Harlan, Roger Imhof, Charles Judels, Russell Simpson, Bert Roach, Warren Hymer, Oscar Apfel, Maddie Allen, Sam Ash, Gertrude Astor, Irving Bacon, King Bagot, Vince Barnett, Sidney Bracey, Tommy Bupp, G Pat Collins, Adrienne D’Ambricourt, Nigel De Brulier, Vernon Dent, Tom Dugan, Edward Earle, Jim Farley, Chester Gan, Sherry Hall, Ruth Gillette, Fay Helm, Jack Kennedy, Wilbur Mack, George Magill, Tom McGuire, Bruce Mitchell, Dennis O’Keefe, Jason Robards Sr, Frank Sheridan, Carl Stockdale, Charles Sullivan, Ben Taggart, David Thursby, Robert J Wilke, Tudor Williams, Ortho Wright, Henry Roquemore and Don Rowan.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5143

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