San Francisco is an American musical film of WS Van Dyke released in 1936 .
Synopsis
Mary Blake is a young singer desperate for work in San Francisco . Casino manager Blackie Norton makes her sign a contract she regrets when she is offered a seat at the Tivoli Opera House. After a fight with Norton, she joins Jack Burley’s Tivoli House. Blackie threatens to sue Burley, asks Mary to marry him and manages to convince her to return to work for him. The idyll does not last and Mary leaves him again for the Tivoli Opera where she becomes the headliner. While his career is at its peak, an earthquake hits San Francisco and the city is nothing more than a field of ruins …
Technical sheet
- Title: San Francisco
- Original title: San Francisco
- Director: WS Van Dyke , assisted by Joseph Newman and DW Griffith (all 2 uncredited)
- Scenario: Anita Loos , from a story by Robert E. Hopkins
- Photography: Oliver T. Marsh (and Loyal Griggs , uncredited, for the earthquake sequence)
- Sound engineer: Douglas Shearer
- Music: Nacio Herb Brown , Walter Jurmann and Bronislau Kaper
- Editing: Tom Held
- Special Effects: James Basevi
- Producers: John Emerson and Bernard H. Hyman
- Production: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Country of origin: United States
- Language: English
- Size: 35mm – black & white – Ratio : 1.37: 1
- Genre: Drama , disaster movie
- Duration: 115 minutes
- Release date :
- United States :June 26, 1936
- France : December 17, 1936
Distribution
- Clark Gable (VF: Richard Francoeur ) : Blackie Norton
- Jeanette MacDonald : Mary Blake
- Spencer Tracy (VF: Serge Nadaud ) : Father Tim Mullin
- Jack Holt : Jack Burley
- Jessie Ralph : M me Maisie Burley
- Ted Healy : Matt
- Shirley Ross : Trixie
- Margaret Irving : Della Bailey
- Harold Huber : ‘Babe’ (director of Paradise)
- Edgar Kennedy : Sheriff Jim
- Al Shean : Professor Hansen
- William Ricciardi : Signor Baldini
- Kenneth Harlan : Chick
- Roger Imhof : ‘Alaska’ Joe Kelso
- Russell Simpson : ‘Red’ Kelly
- Warren Hymer : Hazeltine
And, among the uncredited actors:
- Ralph Lewis , Frank Sheridan : Founding Members of the Club
- Belle Mitchell : Louise, Mary’s maid
- Jason Robards Sr .: The father
- Jean Acker , Flora Finch , Robert J. Wilke : Figurants during the earthquake
Awards
The film was nominated for six Oscars , including Best Director , Best Picture , Best Actor for Spencer Tracy , Best Assistant Director for Joseph M. Newman and Best Original Screenplay for Robert E. Hopkins , but only won the Oscar for Best its for the work of Douglas Shearer .
Around the film
- Only a few general plans of the city were made in San Francisco itself. The film was shot mostly in Hollywood.
- The song “San Francisco”, played in the film by Jeanette Mac Donald , was repeated in a version with new lyrics by Judy Garland .