Film Friday: San Francisco (1936)
This week on «Film Friday» I am celebrating Jeanette MacDonald's 113th birthday, which happens to be tomorrow. While I have only seen three of her films so far, one of them — this one — also features two of my favourite actors of the classic Hollywood era, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, hence why I have decided to write about it today. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke, San Francisco (1936) follows Blackie Norton (Clark Gable), the rough-and-tumble owner of the Paradise , a saloon in the notorious Barbary Coast in 1906. He hires down-on-her-luck singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald), who soon becomes a sensation at the Paradise . Angered by the consequences of a recent fire, a group of citizens urge Blackie to run for city supervisor and attempt to get a fire ordinance passed that would condemn many businesses, but would save lives. Encouraged by his childhood friend, Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie decides to run for office. He is opposed by crooked landlord Jack Burley (Ja...