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)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
G. Pat Collins
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
White Heat (1949)
Myrtle Stedman
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
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Bud Geary
USA
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The Talk of the Town (1942)
Tommy Bupp
USA
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Carl Stockdale
USA
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Adrienne D'Ambricourt
France
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Bernadette (1943)
Margaret Bert
UK
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Jerry Tucker
USA
Best movies:
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David Thursby
UK
Best movies:
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Ruth Gillette
USA
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Jim Farley
USA
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Tom McGuire
UK
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Jean Acker
USA
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Delos Jewkes
USA
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Mahlon Hamilton
USA
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San Francisco (1936)
Helen Shipman
USA
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Naughty Marietta (1935)
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Vernon Dent
USA
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Frank Sheridan
USA
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San Francisco (1936)
The Merry Widow (1934)
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Frank Mayo
USA
Best movies:
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Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Gilda (1946)
Jane Barnes
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
When Tomorrow Comes (1939)
A Star Is Born (1937)