You get the feeling that what director Woodie Van Dyke REALLY wanted to do was reenact the great San Francisco earthquake scene of destruction on the 30th anniversary of its occurrence. Of course, MGM studio head Louis B. Meyer is not going to fork over money for that, so a story is constructed that merely contains the scene he really wanted to do as the climax of the film. The whole thing is a well acted but rather maudlin morality tale in the production code era tradition. You've got the personification of the Barbary Coast entrepreneur in Blackie the atheist saloon owner, perfectly cast with Clark Gable in the role. You have the voice of virtue in the person of priest Father Tim Mullin, again perfect casting with Spencer Tracy in the role, and you've got your virtuous songbird of a lady in Jeanette McDonald as Mary Blake, looking for work as a singer. Did anybody on the MGM lot in 1936 have a better voice than hers? Square jawed Jack Holt comes over from Columbia to play society scion Jack Burley, who in the end is no better, maybe worse, than Blackie. He claims he is respectable but when he and Blackie are fighting over the affections of Mary, there is no blow that is too low for him to land. In the middle of all of this conflict - scion versus rascal, man of God versus atheist, a woman who is torn between the man society tells her that she is supposed to love and the man she really does love comes the great quake. When you watch it think about the work that went into this given the technology that did not exist at that time and it becomes even more wondrous.

Unfortunately, at least for me, the movie gets rather hokie at that point. I'll let you watch and get the details.

In the final analysis, Jeanette McDonald is probably given more to do in this movie than she should have because Louis B. Mayer thought she was "hawt!". Meanwhile the production code was the best thing that ever happened to Spencer Tracy. No doubt he was a great actor, even greater when you realize that off camera he was a heavy drinker and bedding every MGM (and before that Fox) starlet he could get his hands on, and yet he plays a priest quite believably!. And Blackie suddenly believes in God because the person he loved is not dead in the rubble? What about all of the other dead people? Should, by the same logic, the people who loved them have become atheists? Not as long as head censor Joe Breen was on the job, and he would be for another 16 years.

Highly recommended in spite of the hokie ending. It is just a shame that they couldn't have made it in 1933 when things were allowed to be a bit saucier and more realistic.

As in the '70s, disaster films were all the rage in the '30s, with "Hurricane," "The Rains Came," "In Old Chicago," and, of course, 1936's "San Francisco" which certainly sent the other studios running to destroy anything they could. The film stars Clark Gable, Jeannette MacDonald, and Spencer Tracy as three citizens of that beautiful city on April 18, 1906, when the big earthquake struck.

Gable plays Blackie Norton, a quintessential role for him - a tough, charming rogue who runs The Paradise Club. MacDonald is the lovely and talented Mary Black who arrives there looking for work, and Spencer Tracy is Father Tim, who is Blackie's conscience (so he ignores him) and Mary's moral compass. Mary is torn between two loves - her love for Blackie and her love for opera. Burley (Jack Holt) wants her contract from Blackie so he can star her at the Tivoli Opera, but in all things, she suppresses her own desires so that she can stay with Blackie. She finally does leave but returns...only to leave again after an ugly confrontation between Blackie and Father Tim. Things get a lot uglier at an annual contest - and that's when the chandelier starts moving back and forth.

It's amazing what the films in the pre-computer age were able to do with special effects because the earthquake in "San Francisco" is dazzling, spectacular, and downright scary. Given the horrors of 9/11 and Katrina, one is drawn into the devastation and suffering as people search for loved ones, watch their houses fall, go crazy, and see their beloved city dynamited because there's no water to stop the raging fires. 70 years later, it's all way too close to home.

As good as he always was with Gable, Spencer Tracy did not have much of a role as the good father, but he's excellent. MacDonald poses a problem. Normally, she plays a diva or spitfire, and she did those roles beautifully. But Mary Blake is a modest and religious woman who speaks softly and sublimates her own desires for the man she loves. It doesn't ring true, and it doesn't work opposite the volatile Blackie of Gable's. If Mary had been more like other roles she played, MacDonald probably would have had good chemistry with him. As it is, they don't make much of a couple. Her singing is pretty until she hits the opera stage - with the combination of the tinny sound system in those days and the way women were trained on high notes then, the end result isn't good. She sings "The Jewel Song," which she often did in concert, the finale of "Faust," and "Sempre Libera." MacDonald was a lyric coloratura and suited to the demands of the opera stage in the '30s, but today she sounds dated as standards have changed.

This is a great film to see to appreciate the artistry of the early technicians. The effects in "San Francisco" hold up against anything that came 40 years later. The ending is pure Hollywood hokum, but very stirring. It gave this viewer goosebumps. Don't miss Hollywood at its very best.

Wow,....this is a REALLY predictable film. Clark Gable plays a guy named "Blackie" and it turns out, surprise of surprises, that he's a bit of a bad egg! And, his childhood buddy, played by Spencer Tracy, is a lovable priest--cut out of the same mold as Bing Crosby in GOING MY WAY. Added to the mix is Jeanette MacDonald (sister of Blossum Rock--that's "Grandmama" from the Addams Family--I'm not kidding about this--look it up if you don't believe me). Thankfully, she only sings a little, as I for one, hated all of her movies with Nelson Eddy. Sorry--I love the Golden Age of Hollywood but just couldn't take their films. Here in SAN FRANCISCO, she's just fine as Gable's prospective main squeeze.

So despite the clichés, how could I still give the movie an 8? Well, despite clichés, I love Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. I also love that Ms. MacDonald doesn't sing too much (especially not the types of songs that made her famous). But most importantly I loved the climatic San Francisco earthquake sequence towards the end. It is amazing to behold and probably prevented MacDonald from singing even more.

Did I mention that I hate Jeanette MacDonald's singing?