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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.
CinemaSerf
Oct 30, 2024 · via TMDB
I sometimes found Jeanette MacDonald to be a sort of singing hybrid of Bette Davis and Binnie Barnes! She reminds me very much of that here in this engaging, if slightly long, romantic tale set just before the infamous San Francisco earthquake. "Mary Blake" arrives in the city looking for a job and she alights on the owner of the "Paradise Café". He's the suave and savvy "Blackie Norton" (Clark Gable) and he takes quite a shine to her. So too does his rather wealthier and more high-brow competitor "Burley" (Jack Holt) who might be a better fit for this girl's operatic ambitions. What now ensues sees the chemistry between MacDonald and Gable ebb and flow against a background of crookedness, envy and some good old-fashioned thuggery. Trying to help everyone stay on the right track is his childhood friend "Tim" (Spencer Tracy) who now just happens to be the local priest, a dab hand with a boxing glove, and a man who refuses to see evil in just about anyone. "Mary" has some tough choices to make, and those around her seem perfectly happy to make it for her if she doesn't - so which way is she going to turn? There's no doubt that MacDonald could sing, and her performances here are powerful and at times quite mischievous as her semi-operatic numbers illustrate quite well her character's struggle to fit into a society that wanted music hall numbers and not a good dose of "Faust"! Gable brings his usual lighthearted charm to the proceedings and there are a couple of amiable scenes from the rags-to-riches "Maisie" (Jessie Ralph) to remind us that just about everyone in that city started from nothing - even those on it's exclusive Nob Hill. The photography and visual effects at the end are really quite impressive and the audio of both the musical and thunderous elements of destruction work really quite well on a big screen too. It's not a plot that really stands out, but everyone here works well together to provide an enjoyable reminder of not just these stars, but also of the variety of Vaudeville entertainers that our forebears watched on stage.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Clark Gable
Blackie Norton
Jeanette MacDonald
Mary Blake
Spencer Tracy
Father Tim Mullin
Jack Holt
Jack Burley
Jessie Ralph
Mrs. Maisie Burley
Ted Healy
Mat
Shirley Ross
Trixie
Margaret Irving
Della Bailey
Harold Huber
'Babe'
Edgar Kennedy
Sheriff
Al Shean
Professor
William Ricciardi
Signor Baldini
Kenneth Harlan
'Chick'
Roger Imhof
'Alaska'
Charles Judels
Tony
Russell Simpson
'Red' Kelly
Bert Roach
Freddie Duane
Warren Hymer
Hazeltine
Adrienne D'Ambricourt
Madame Albani (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor
Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
Irving Bacon
Picnicker (uncredited)
King Baggot
Earthquake Survivor (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey
Burley's Butler Allen (uncredited)
G. Pat Collins
Bartender (uncredited)
Nigel De Brulier
Earthquake Survivor (uncredited)
Vernon Dent
Fat Man (uncredited)
Tom Dugan
Drunk (uncredited)
John George
Custodian at Blackie Norton's (uncredited)
D.W. Griffith
Orchestra Conductor (uncredited)
Bronislau Kaper
Conductor (uncredited)
Frank Mayo
Dealer (uncredited)
Tom McGuire
Bartender (uncredited)
John 'Skins' Miller
Man on Stretcher (uncredited)
James Murray
Earthquake Survivor (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien
Waiter at Chicken's Ball (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe
New Year's Celebrant (uncredited)
Lillian Rich
Nun (uncredited)
Jason Robards Sr.
Father (uncredited)
Frank Sheridan
Founders' Club Member (uncredited)
Harry Strang
Soldier (uncredited)
Ben Taggart
Cop (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon
New Years Eve Reveler (uncredited)
Rosemary Theby
Earthquake Survivor (uncredited)
Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Earthquake Survivor (Uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Assistant Art Director
Adrian
Costume Design
Joseph M. Newman
Assistant Director
W.S. Van Dyke
Director
D.W. Griffith
Second Assistant Director
John Emerson
Producer
W.S. Van Dyke
Producer
Herbert Stothart
Music
Douglas Shearer
Sound Director
Anita Loos
Screenplay
Herman J. Mankiewicz
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Seven Dorms of Death
2015
Preview
1982
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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