San Francisco

"She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!"

1936 1h 55m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 89

DramaRomanceMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

“She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Clark Gable
Blackie Norton
Jeanette MacDonald
Mary Blake
Spencer Tracy
Father Tim Mullin
Jack Holt
Jack Burley
Jessie Ralph
Mrs. Maisie Burley
Ted Healy
Mat
Shirley Ross
Trixie
Margaret Irving
Della Bailey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Writers: Anita Loos, Robert E. Hopkins, Herman J. Mankiewicz
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

90 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, shot by Oliver T. Marsh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tom Held shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0028216 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

W.S. Van Dyke directs. Oliver T. Marsh behind the camera. Tom Held cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 4.1× over at the box office.
390 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, shot by Oliver T. Marsh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Tom Held shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!".
8IMDB entry: tt0028216 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 89 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "san francisco, california", "earthquake", "priest", "belief in god".

The technical file

Cinematography: Oliver T. Marsh
Editing: Tom Held
Costume design: Adrian
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,300,000
Box office: $5,273,000
Return: 406% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: San Francisco (1936)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Sound

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

W.S. Van Dyke

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-10-30
★ 7/10
I sometimes found Jeanette MacDonald to be a sort of singing hybrid of Bette Davis and Binnie Barnes! She reminds me very much of that here in this engaging, if slightly long, romantic tale set just before the infamous San Francisco earthquake. "Mary Blake" arrives in the city looking for a job and she alights on the owner of the "Paradise Café". He's the suave and savvy "Blackie Norton" (Clark Gable) and he takes quite a shine to her. So too does his rather wealthier and more high-brow competitor "Burley" (Jack Holt) who might be a better fit for this girl's operatic ambitions. What now ensues sees the chemistry between MacDonald and Gable ebb and flow against a background of crookedness, envy and some good old-fashioned thuggery. Trying to help everyone stay on the right track is his childhood friend "Tim" (Spencer Tracy) who now just happens to be the local priest, a dab hand with a boxing glove, and a man who refuses to see evil in just about anyone. "Mary" has some tough choices to make, and those around her seem perfectly happy to make it for her if she doesn't - so which way is she going to turn? There's no doubt that MacDonald could sing, and her performances here are powerful and at times quite mischievous as her semi-operatic numbers illustrate quite well her character's struggle to fit into a society that wanted music hall numbers and not a good dose of "Faust"! Gable brings his usual lighthearted charm to the proceedings and there are a couple of amiable scenes from the rags-to-riches "Maisie" (Jessie Ralph) to remind us that just about everyone in that city started from nothing - even those on it's exclusive Nob Hill. The photography and visual effects at the end are really quite impressive and the audio of both the musical and thunderous elements of destruction work really quite well on a big screen too. It's not a plot that really stands out, but everyone here works well together to provide an enjoyable reminder of not just these stars, but also of the variety of Vaudeville entertainers that our forebears watched on stage.

Production companies