![[IMAGE]](sanfran1.jpg)
CREDITS
1936, 116 minutes, B&W.
Producer, John Emerson and Bernard Hyman; Director, W.S. Van Dyke; Screenplay, Anita Loos; Story, Robert Hopkins; Cinematography, Oliver T. Marsh; Music Director, Herbert Stothart; Montage Work, John Hoffman; Dance Direction, Val Raset; Special Effects, James Basevi; Sound Recording, Douglas Shearer; Assistant Director, Joseph Newman.
CAST
Blackie Norton, Clark Gable; Mary Blake, Jeanette MacDonald; Father Mullin, Spencer Tracy; Jack Burley, Jack Holt; Mrs. Burley, Jessie Ralph; Mat, Ted Healy; Trixie, Shirley Ross; Della Bailey, Margaret Irving; Babe, Harold Huber; Sheriff, Edgar Kennedy.
SONGS
San Francisco by Bronislau Kaper, Walter Jurmann and Gus Kahn; Would You by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown; Love Me And The World Is Mine by Ernest R. Ball and David Reed; A Heart That's Free by A.J. Robyn and T. Railey; The Holy City by Stephen Adams and F.E. Weatherley; Nearer My God to Thee by Lowell Mason and Sarah F. Adams; The Battle Hymn of the Republic by William Steffe and Julia Ward Howe; At a Georgia Camp Meeting by Kerry Mills; The Philippine Dance by Bob Carleton; A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight by Joe Hayden and Theodore Metz; The Jewel Song; Soldiers' CHorus; Il Se Fait Tard; Anges Purs from Gounod's Faust; Sempre Libera from Verdi's La Traviata.
PLOT SYNOPSIS
"Blackie Norton (Gable), 'King of the Barbary Coast,' is proprietor of the riotous Paradise Saloon. Into his den of high-flying lowlife walks Mary Blake (MacDonald), looking to pursue a singing career. After 'eyeballing' her legs and hearing her 'pipes,' Norton hires Mary - but soon their professional relationship segues into a romantic one."
- Liner Notes from MGM/Turner Laserdisc
NOTES
"A disaster musical (as opposed to a musical disaster), San Francisco was an artistic, technical and financial triumph for its studio, MGM, as well as a personal one for its three stars."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical
"An earthquake noisy and terrifying, is San Francisco's forte. Quake occurs after more than an hour and up to then the picture is distinguished chiefly for its corking cast and super-fine production."
- Variety
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS:
Best Picture
Best Actor - Spencer Tracy
Writing (Original Story)
Assistant Director
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER:
Sound Recording
The film also received the PHOTOPLAY MEDAL OF HONOR.
D.W. Griffith directed several of the crowd scenes; Erich Von Stroheim contributed "additional dialogue."
San Francisco was one of the year's top-grossing films. See Box Office Hits
![[IMAGE]](sanfran2.jpg)
Return to The Great MGM Musicals Page