May 3, 2012
San Francisco –
US, 1936
W.S. Van Dyke II’s 1936 film San Francisco begins with a scroll informing viewers of the
grandeur, wonder, and excitement that filled the streets of San Francisco in
the years that immediately followed the beginning of the 20th
century. It ends with a somber reminder that all of this ended on April 18,
1906 at 5:13 AM. The film then takes viewers back to December 31, 1905, less
than four months before that fateful day. By beginning his film in this
fashion, Van Dyke seems to be telling us that all that we are about to see is
history – the characters, the attitudes, the prevailing belief that blood and
money make right. We know therefore that some of the characters we observe
early in the film will not survive the quake, and we can assume that the ones
that do will have had their lives permanently altered.
In the film, San Francisco is portrayed as a city at war
with itself, as wealthy, upper-class families from Nob Hill battle it out with
wealthy business owners from the Barbary Coast whose livelihood involves speakeasies,
dancing girls, gambling, and Vaudeville-like nightly performances. The film
opens with one of those grand Hollywood New Year’s celebrations that make you
long for yesteryear. Confetti rains down from the sky as if it were being
released by heaven itself, alcohol is free for everyone, and average people
dressed in their Sunday best shout merrily while wearing some of the widest
smiles you’ll ever see. It seems New Year’s bring out the kid in all of them.
Through this mass of euphoria, the camera focuses us on Blackie Norton (Clark
Gable), a sharply dressed, well-groomed man who could easily be mistaken for
the city’s mayor. Norton seems to know everyone – everyone that is worth
knowing at least – and when a fire engine is called into action, Norton hops on
it as it passes so that he can find out where the fire is and make sure that
everyone is safe. Of course, he also wants to make sure that it isn’t his
business that is on fire.
The scene immediately establishes one of the film’s ominous
themes, fire safety. From a later conversation, we learn that few of the
buildings in the Barbary Coast meet safety standards and that the wealthy land
owners in Nob Hill are not in a hurry to make the area any safer, for doing so
would cost a lot of much money. A group of businessmen from the Barbary Coast
want to change this, so they enlist Norton to run for supervisor, reasoning
that if they have one of their own in the government, their concerns are more
likely to be addressed. Norton somewhat reluctantly accepts.
On the one hand, Blackie Norton seems an ideal candidate.
Everyone knows him, he’s a successful business owner, and he’s young and
attractive. On the other hand, outwardly he is practically bankrupt morally.
His childhood best friend, Father Tim Mullins (Spencer Tracy), refers to him as
“unscrupulous with women” and “ruthless with men.” He’s also a man who is quick
to respond to a dispute with his fist. However, we’re also told that there’s a
humanitarian side to him, a side that according to Father Mullins abides by a
strict moral code. He never lies or cheats, yet he seems “ashamed of his good
deeds.” We learn that Father Mullins has tried and failed to help Norton see
the light. Perhaps, he reasons, he is not the right person to help Blackie.
Perhaps a woman might do the trick.
That woman may just be Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald), a
newcomer to San Francisco whose home was destroyed in the fire. She is a singer
and comes to Norton with a story he’s apparently heard time and time again – that
of the daughter of a preacher who was raised to be traditional and learned to
sing in the church choir. The story is supposed to discourage male suitors, but
Norton’s heard it so many times, he’s practically immune to it. When she tells
him she’s a singer, his response is: “Let me see your legs” and when he offers
her a job, he takes her acceptance of the job as an acceptance of him, and very
soon, his arms are around her. She resists, of course, which only makes Norton
more determined than ever.
Blake turns out to have quite an amazing voice, and if you
think it’s a little strange to hear it being used to sing jazz, you’re not
wrong. Soon Blake is being pursued by Jack Burly, a wealthy aristocrat who also
runs an opera. Upon hearing that Blake has always dreamed of being an opera
singer, Norton does what every ruthless businessman would do: He refuses to let
her out of her contract.
As Blackie Norton, Clark Gable gives a tour-de-force
performance. In the hands of another actor, Norton could easily have been just
another virtuous character at war with himself. However, Gable plays him in
such a way that you’re never quite sure what side of him you’re seeing or
whether you should believe the things he says. In one scene, he admits to being
in love with Blake and yet as he says it, you can’t help doubting his words.
His actions simply don’t match them. After all, what kind of man tells the
woman he professes to love that in order to be with him, she must abandon her
dream and perform in front of a packed house of drunken patrons, each of whom
sizes her up with his eyes and hurls cat calls in her direction? However,
towards the end of the film, there’s a moment when Gable dispels all your
doubts about his feelings for her, and any actor who wants to know just how a
man looks when he realizes for the first time that he truly loves someone
should watch that scene and take notes.
I have a feeling that Clark Gable is known primarily for
four films these days: Gone with the Wind,
It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Misfits. However, this is an actor
who started making films during the tail end of the silent period, and by the time
of his death at the age of just 59, he had appeared in over 80 motion pictures.
From what I’ve seen of him, he is one of those rare actors who is equally adept
in both screwball comedies and dramatic period pieces, and I genuinely look
forward to seeing more of his films.
Eventually the earthquake strikes in San Francisco. It has to, for it must render all that we have seem trivial.
Van Dyke (or as rumor has it D.W. Griffith) shows the earthquake’s devastating
effects on all classes and all ages, and the special effects work of James
Besevi, Russell A. Cully, and A. Arnold Gillespie is truly astonishing. The
aftermath of the quake, with its horrific ensuing inferno, is powerfully
depicted, and we are left with a clear picture of just how much San Francisco
suffered at this time, partly as a result of the haves not wanting to make the
have-nots just a tiny bit safer. However, what emerges when the flames are put
out is not a city divided by classism or filled with anger. Instead, it is one
of unity. Both sides have lost, and both sides now rise up together and
proclaim their desire to fight on and to rebuild. It is as it should be, as it should
always have been. (on DVD)
4 stars
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