San Francisco

1936
Approved
1h 55m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

6.2K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:09

A Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally, in 1906 San Francisco.A Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally, in 1906 San Francisco.A Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally, in 1906 San Francisco.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

6.2K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,644

28,670

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 6 nominations total

Trivia
Clark Gable did not want to make this film but he was at the mercy of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who had just paid off one of his numerous paramours.

Goofs
As Blackie walks away from a building being blown up (actually a process shot), Clark Gable's head becomes momentarily transparent.

Quotes
Jack Burley: [referring to Mary Blake] Well, there's no law against an opera singer being slender, young and beautiful.

Crazy credits
Prologue: "San Francisco--guardian of the Golden Gate--stands today a Queen among seaports--industrious, mature, respectable. But perhaps she dreams of the Queen and city she was--splendid and sensuous, vulgar, and magnificent--that perished suddenly with a cry still heard in the hearts of those who knew her, at exactly 5:15 a.m. April 18, 1906."

Alternate versions
After initial premiere, the manager of the Paramount Theater in San Francisco added to the downbeat ending a few shots showing the Golden Gate Bridge being built. Seeing the positive public reaction, MGM decided to have the sequence added to all other prints in release.

Connections
Edited into What Price Safety! (1938)

Soundtracks
San Francisco
(1936)
Music by Bronislau Kaper and Walter Jurmann
Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Played during the opening credits and often in the score
Sung by Jeanette MacDonald (uncredited)
Reprised by her and others at a political rally and at the end

User reviews106

Review

Featured review

10/10

One of a kind!

When I found this video I snatched it off the shelf! I found this to be such a great glimpse of a by-gone era never to be seen again. I play some of the scenes over and over again as I have a great interest in Victorian architecture, etc. Pay attention to background sets, furniture, etc these folks really did their home work! I read that the special-effects were so remarkable considering the film was made in the late 1930's. You have to really focus on the conversations and the message the film was relaying to the audience. The city had garnered such notoriety for being a rough, wild and sinful city. The religious overtones were being emphasized as if to imply the city deserved what it got. This was being circulated all over the world of course. There is the scene where Jeneatte McDonald is having a 1 on 1 conversation with her future mother in law. Mrs Bailey tells her that the "aristocracy" of San Francisco is not what people think. "They are a wild and crazy bunch living a sinful life with party's that last for days! She says. So you see the film wanted us to feel how society viewed others in those days. Wonderful film I never tire of seeing it!