San Francisco

One of the best of the "disaster film” sub-genre that was popular in the 1930's, “San Francisco” was an MGM production that boasts two incredible stars and award winning, revolutionary special effects recreating an event only 30 years old at the time. Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy were two of the biggest stars of the time when MGM first paired them together for this film. The duo would subsequently appear on screen together in "Test Pilot" and "Boom Town", but never as successfully, with both actors comfortably playing roles that suit them perfectly. Gable is "Blackie" Norton, one of the bosses of the Barbary Coast, San Francisco's gambling and otherwise “illicit” district, whose counsel comes from his boyhood friend and priest, Father Tim Mullin, played by Spencer Tracy. With Gable as a charismatic rogue and Tracy as a compassionate man of faith (roles they would play many times throughout their respective careers), plus the dynamic singing of rising star Jeanette MacDonald (soon to be illustriously paired with Nelson Eddy in a popular series of MGM operettas) and the aforementioned special effects (taken for granted today, but cracking a believable city street was no small feat in 1936), all under the smooth direction of W.S. "One Take Woody" Van Dyke, made this one of MGM's biggest hits of 1936. While the sub-genre would go on to include "In Old Chicago", "The Hurricane" and "The Rains Came", “San Francisco” and Schoedsack/Cooper's "The Last Days of Pompeii" were among the first to dazzle audiences with spectacular recreations of historic events, but still barely scratching the surface of what cinematic innovators would ultimately accomplish. However, when considering older films, one must place them in their proper context, and in 1936, there was no bigger film than MGM's "San Francisco".

The film begins on New Year’s Eve, 1905. As the town celebrates, a house burns down on the Barbary Coast, the “red light” district of San Francisco, which is saying something considering San Francisco was regarded as the “wickedest” city in the world at the time. The next morning, several area “politicians” come to see Blackie Norton, owner of the Paradise saloon and dance hall, as well as de facto leader of the Coast, and urge him to run for city council. Blackie reluctantly accepts but soon is caught up in his fight abolish the fire trap buildings that populate the Coast, such as the one that burned down on New Year’s Eve. His political fighting soon takes a back seat to his romantic fighting with upper class politician and manager of the Tivoli Opera House, Jack Burley. Burley hears Blackie’s newest singer, Mary Blake, perform one night at his club and instantly recognizes her operatic voice is being wasted performing in a saloon and implores Blackie to tear up his contract with her and let her go to the Tivoli. Burley also loves Mary and his jealousy rivals Blackie’s who fiercely and selfishly forbids her from breaking her contract. Initially Mary, a naïve young girl new to San Francisco, thinks of Blackie as a thug and gambler, but she begins to see the good in him thanks to his best friend, Father Tim Mullin, who informs her of Blackie’s good deeds he does for the community anonymously. Mary soon falls in love with Blackie, but Burley does not give up and soon Father Mullin begins pressuring Blackie to let her go to the Tivoli. Blackie reluctantly lets her go, but after one performance schemes to get her back, threatening to use his new political clout against Burley. The scheme works temporarily, but when Father Mullin learns of it, he forces Blackie to let her go back, resulting in Blackie punching his best friend, but Father Mullin’s point has been made, and Blackie again lets her go to the Tivoli. Leaving her time at the Paradise behind, Mary soon becomes an opera sensation and is soon engaged to Burley, while a bitter Blackie sees the Paradise shut down by politicians in an attempt to “clean up” the Coast.

Soon after, Mary and Burley are attending an annual society gala which honors the best variety act in San Francisco. All of the dance halls perform, except for the Paradise, which has been shut down. Mary jumps up at the last moment and announces she will sing on behalf of the Paradise and leads the crowd in a rousing rendition of the song “San Francisco”, enough to win the event for the Paradise. A resentful Blackie storms on stage and says “no thanks”, shunning Mary and the honor, but the uneasy mood quickly changes as the most devastating earthquake in California history hits. Tearing the theater apart, toppling tall buildings, breaking open city streets, splitting water mains, and causing massive fires, the earthquake completely ravages the city. Blackie emerges from under a pile of rubble and quickly begins looking for Mary. He grows despondent when he finds the body of Burley and Mary’s hat, wandering aimlessly around town looking for her, trying to avoid deadly aftershocks, and the raging fire, which the army tries to stop by dynamiting debris into its path (in reality, the water main breaking was the worst of the fallout, as the raging fires could not be adequately fought, thus the archaic practice of dynamiting, which ended up doing much more harm than good). Blackie stumbles into a Red Cross tent and finds Father Mullin caring for the wounded. Thinking Mary is dead, Blackie slumps to the ground and sheds a few tears (much would be made of Clark Gable refusing to do a scene in which he had to cry in “Gone With the Wind” three years later, allegedly threatening to walk off the film until Olivia de Havilland convinced him otherwise, however here oddly, no such stories exist), but Father Mullin says he knows where Mary is and takes him to her. Blackie and Mary are reunited in a large refugee camp, and as a boy runs through the camp telling everyone the fire is out, Blackie and Mary walk hand in hand with the swelling crowd back into their ruined city, which, as the film fades to black, dissolves into a shot of contemporary San Francisco, leaving the viewer with a feeling of resiliency and hope.