Directed by:
W. S. Van DykeCinematography:
Oliver T. MarshCast:
Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph, Ted Healy, Shirley Ross, Margaret Irving, Harold Huber, Edgar Kennedy, Al Shean (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Mary Blake arrives at Blackie Norton's Paradise gambling hall and beer garden looking for work as a singer. Blackie embarrasses her by asking to see her legs, but does hire her. She faints from hunger. Nob Hill Socialite Jack Burley and Maestro Baldini of the Tivoli Opera House see her singing and offer her a chance to do opera, but Blackie has her under a two-year contract which she sorrowfully stands by. Later, when he makes up posters featuring Mary in tights, she does leave for the Tivoli. Blackie gets an injunction against Burley, but knocks out the process server when he hears Mary's performance as Marguerite in "Faust". She asks her to marry him and she agrees to go back to the Paradise as his kind of singer, but Blackie's childhood chum Father Tim intervenes. After Blackie slugs the priest, Mary leaves. She is soon the star of the Tivoli and Blackie's place is closed down. She sings a rousing "San Francisco" on behalf of the Paradise at the annual "Chicken Ball" and wins the $10,000 prize which Blackie throws to the floor. As she storms out of the hall a terrible rumble betokens the famous San Francisco earthquake. Buildings collapse, streets split wide open, the city burns, the army dynamites whole sections of town. After staggering around in a stupor Blackie finds Father Tim and the two of them find Mary at a Salvation Army camp. Backed by hundreds of others, they look out over the ruins which are gradually replaced by the shining new city with a reprise of the title song. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Pat O'Malley
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Gentleman Jim (1942)
Nigel De Brulier
UK
Best movies:
Wings (1927)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
Belle Mitchell
USA
Best movies:
Miracle of Fatima (1952)
Lust for Life (1956)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Edward Hearn
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
The General (1926)
Love Crazy (1941)
Gertrude Astor
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Bill Wolfe
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Way Out West (1937)
Edgar Edwards
UK
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
Dark Victory (1939)
San Francisco (1936)
Douglas McPhail
USA
Best movies:
Test Pilot (1938)
San Francisco (1936)
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Sidney Bracey
Australia
Best movies:
Sunrise (1927)
The Cameraman (1928)
Freaks (1932)
Cy Kendall
USA
Best movies:
Scarlet Street (1945)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
San Francisco (1936)
Fay Helm
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
Dark Victory (1939)
San Francisco (1936)
Helene Chadwick
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
The Call of the Wild (1935)
Morning Glory (1933)
Donald Hall
UK
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Meet John Doe (1941)
John Kelly
USA
Best movies:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Scarface (1932)
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Spec O'Donnell
USA
Best movies:
Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's (1965) - a.f.
Love Crazy (1941)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Ralph Lewis
USA
Best movies:
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
San Francisco (1936)
Richard Carle
USA
Best movies:
Ninotchka (1939)
It's a Wonderful World (1939)
San Francisco (1936)
Chester Gan
USA
Best movies:
The Good Earth (1937)
After the Thin Man (1936)
San Francisco (1936)
Harry Myers
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
City Lights (1931)
San Francisco (1936)
Rosemary Theby
USA
Best movies:
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Our Relations (1936)
San Francisco (1936)