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San Francisco
Price: $43.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301976916
Format: Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6301976916
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Languages: English (Original Language), Analog
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: December 02, 1992
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: June 26, 1936
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Editorial Review:
"San Francisco, open your Golden Gate...." If the classic city anthem isn't part of your life already, it will be after a viewing of this 1936 hit, a wonderful blend of cornpone, spectacle, and song. It's set in 1906, the year the earthquake flattened much of Baghdad by the Bay. Like the disaster movies that followed (including In Old Chicago, a Fox cash-in from a couple of years later), San Francisco slowly establishes its characters before unleashing the destruction. Clark Gable is Blackie Norton, a cocky and ruthless Barbary Coast character whose heart is--well, not softened, but at least dented by the arrival of an opera singer (Jeanette MacDonald) looking for a job. He hires her for his rowdy club, while his childhood chum, Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), disapproves. As they would subsequently demonstrate in Test Pilot and Boom Town, Gable and Tracy have great he-man rapport together (Blackie's rampant maleness is challenged only by the fact that he knows the priest could punch him out). Director W.S. Van Dyke (The Thin Man) keeps everything cracking along, except for those moments when Cultcha rears its head and MacDonald sings an aria. When the quake hits, and the fire follows, the movie uncorks some really quite awesome special effects, including the unforgettable image of a street heaving up and separating under people's feet--much superior to the disaster effects in The Last Days of Pompeii, made just a year earlier. Needless to say, this could only be MGM in its heyday, laying on the big budget, an acceptable level of naughtiness, and a dose of religious turnaround in the end. It worked then; it still does. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - beauty(MacDonald) and the beast(Gable)
This film is a blend of a romantic musical, a disaster movie and an old fashioned morality play. In some respects it is a replay of "The Dancing Lady",in which a talented Joan Crawford is rescued from her downtown burlesque dancing job to become the featured dancer in Gable's uptown musical extravaganza. In the present film, MacDonald, as Mary Blake, undergoes a similar transformation from singer in Gable's(Blackie) Barbary Coast night spot to an opera house owned and frequented by the Knob Hill ... Read More
Rating: - Present for Mom
Bought this for mom's b-day. She loves this movie and was very happy to get it. Came quickly with no problems.
Rating:  - Need To Be A Big Fan
I recognise that this is an important film but I think you have to be a big fan of Gables to really enjoy it.
Rating: - well played
I love Jeanette McDonald and I like the story line of good girl vs bad boy who with the support of a priest turn the bad boy into a good boy - although he was really a good boy all along he just didn't have the proper morals. I like what it stood for and then the build the story around the great earthquake that took place in San Fran. Great special effects for that time period. I love the cast and the music.
Rating: - San Francisco - A Great Movie
I watched the film tonight after recently purchasing it through Amazon. Years ago I saw it for the first time and remembered it's powerful message. The main theme is that San Francisco had prosperity at the turn-of-the-century but was destroyed by an earthquake in 1906. Some might think that this happened as punishment for immorality. Whatever the reason for disaster such as this all people are affected. It's great that outstanding films such as "San Franciso" are available to view in 2007 - 71 ... Read More
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