Director: W.S. Van Dyke (uncredited)
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Top Billed Actors: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Sound Recording - Douglas Shearer
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director - W.S. Van Dyke
Best Actor - Spencer Tracy
Best Original Story - Robert Hopkins
Best Assistant Director - Joseph M. Newman
Plot: A typical musical comedy gets all shook up from an earthquake.
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Top Billed Actors: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Sound Recording - Douglas Shearer
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director - W.S. Van Dyke
Best Actor - Spencer Tracy
Best Original Story - Robert Hopkins
Best Assistant Director - Joseph M. Newman
Plot: A typical musical comedy gets all shook up from an earthquake.
There's a lot of trivia to get through for 1936's top grossing film, San Francisco (1936). Let's start with Spencer Tracy. This is his first of nine Best Actor nominations. It also might be the shortest amount of screen time for a lead nominee. He would go on to win the award the next two years in a row. As movie lore goes, he was tired of playing the supporting role behind Clark Gable so he went out on his own. I daresay this was a successful strategy and he has the Oscars to prove it. On the topic of Oscars, this is the first time someone has own consecutive awards in the same category, when Douglas Shearer won for Best Sound (he won for the same category the previous year for Naughty Marietta (1935), which also starred Jeanette MacDonald singing in an operatic style). The song "San Francisco" was written for this film. It is now considered an official city song and is sung at earthquake memorials. It's a little strange that it wasn't even nominated for Best Song, but at least the Sound category went to this movie.
If you like the aforementioned operatic singing of MacDonald, then you will like the music here. When I saw a musical starring Clark Gable was on the agenda, I had to do a double take. Alas, the musical aspects are all in-world and don't involve Gable breaking out in song. MacDonald's voice is as lovely as ever and it's such a joy to hear her sing. She gets to show her range a little bit by singing in actual opera conditions as well as in a night club. She pulls off both styles quite well. On the flip-side of the singing comes the disaster sequence in the film's closing moments. It was such a smart choice to include no music for the duration of the tremors, fires, and explosions. After hearing music for nearly two hours straight, the impact that just the sound of explosions and commotion is really felt when the music is absent.
It's said that MacDonald and Gable did not like working for each other. It's also said Gable didn't want to do this picture, but MGM had him under contract and he had little choice. I didn't know this going into the movie, but it does make sense upon review. There is absolutely no chemistry between the two and Gable's performance is not up to his usual standards. Some of this can be blamed on the culture of the time. Gable's character is supposed to be rooted in "evil" as his priest friend (Tracy) says. However, not much evil is shown. Sure there's some drinking and gambling, but not much else is going on. I don't think 1930's culture permitted to many sketchy things to be shown, so this whole part of the story falls flat. I can't connect to what Tracy is saying about Gable and I can't see why his operations are so beneath MacDonald. It comes off as pretentious, which is not the intended effect of the character interactions.
Overall, the music and disaster sequences hold the movie together. The typical romantic affairs between Gable, MacDonald, and her other suitor is not worth seeking out.
My Score: 6/10
If you like the aforementioned operatic singing of MacDonald, then you will like the music here. When I saw a musical starring Clark Gable was on the agenda, I had to do a double take. Alas, the musical aspects are all in-world and don't involve Gable breaking out in song. MacDonald's voice is as lovely as ever and it's such a joy to hear her sing. She gets to show her range a little bit by singing in actual opera conditions as well as in a night club. She pulls off both styles quite well. On the flip-side of the singing comes the disaster sequence in the film's closing moments. It was such a smart choice to include no music for the duration of the tremors, fires, and explosions. After hearing music for nearly two hours straight, the impact that just the sound of explosions and commotion is really felt when the music is absent.
It's said that MacDonald and Gable did not like working for each other. It's also said Gable didn't want to do this picture, but MGM had him under contract and he had little choice. I didn't know this going into the movie, but it does make sense upon review. There is absolutely no chemistry between the two and Gable's performance is not up to his usual standards. Some of this can be blamed on the culture of the time. Gable's character is supposed to be rooted in "evil" as his priest friend (Tracy) says. However, not much evil is shown. Sure there's some drinking and gambling, but not much else is going on. I don't think 1930's culture permitted to many sketchy things to be shown, so this whole part of the story falls flat. I can't connect to what Tracy is saying about Gable and I can't see why his operations are so beneath MacDonald. It comes off as pretentious, which is not the intended effect of the character interactions.
Overall, the music and disaster sequences hold the movie together. The typical romantic affairs between Gable, MacDonald, and her other suitor is not worth seeking out.
My Score: 6/10