San Francisco hundred years ago must have been an attractive place to be before the earthquake. The director W.S. Van Dyke made other disaster-movies for Hollywood but this must be his best. The special quality of this movie is that the effects of the earthquake are secondary to the story-telling of Robert E. Hopkins and the script by Anita Loos. Everybody is moved by the quarrel opposing Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy) and Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) for the singer of the opera Mary Blake (a magnificent Jeanette MacDonald). Jack Burley (Jack Holt) is impressive as he ought to be. The nightclub "Paradise" is realistic as it was at that time without exaggerating. This is a movie about morals: how you can remain decent in a decadent environment.
Review of San Francisco
