Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 97 "It offers outstanding entertainment, reaching its breathtaking climax in the fire and earthquake disaster, which is a masterpiece of realism, with the terror, destruction and suffering incidental to it most convincing. Adults & young people." + + Sel Motion Pict Jl 1 '36 "Something in it to appeal to almost every taste, from song and dance to sermon and spectacle. Family-outstanding." + + Wkly Guide Je 27 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "There is enough material in 'San Francisco' to outfit a couple of films. Some of it at first sight seems strangely assorted to be included within a single picture. . . The songs . . . run through a repertory of dance hall ditties, selections from 'Faust' and 'Traviata,' and religious music such as 'Ave Maria' and 'Nearer My God To Thee.' All this may tend to sound more appalling than diverting. But it has been so ingeniously woven into a scenario . . that the total effect is one of vigorous entertainment that holds its audience for a full two hours. . . Excitements, romance, music and the spectacle of the earthquake are combined to make a film that seems destined for widespread popularity. It is more robust tban fine-tempered entertainment. But vitality and gusto are praiseworthy qualities." E. F. Melvin + Boston Transcript p4 Je 27 36 "It is a combination of strong story, fine casting, some good singing and dancing. . . An appeal to heart and mind, to ear and eye, to the aesthetic and the taste of the average man on the street — with a smash finish — these are the elements that make a genuine triumph of 'San Francisco.' " Laura Elston + Canadian M p30 S '36 "For adults with a taste for raw meat garnished with pastry, and a representation of the great fire for climax." E. C. S. Christian Science Monitor pl5 Je 27 '36 "Truly a great achievement . . . 'San Francisco' is Jeanette MacDonald's picture. This talented and beautiful young woman amazes us with the wide range of her versatility. The most impressive dialogue in the production is that spoken by her eyes and interpreted by the camera, fleeting, sensitive impressions more illuminating than any words could be. . . 'San Francisco' is a triumph for her. It is impossible to conceive of anyone else in the part. . . 'San Francisco' is nrnre than just an outstanding piece of motion picture entertainment. It is an illuminating lesson in screen writing, in adherence to the principle that the public is interested first in people, and that no matter how overwhelming a production is, it must not overwhelm the people for whom our sympathies have been enlisted. Also it is a lesson in how a picture should be directed. W. S. Van Dyke made a marvelous job of it." -f + Hollywood Spec pl2 Jl 4 '36 "This camera record of the quake and fire of 1906 is a technical masterpiece. Seldom has any great catastrophe been imitated with such savage reality, and because of these gripping sequences alone 'San Francisco' attains outstanding appeal. Unfortunately, the remainder of this somewhat emasculated portrait of America's one-time Sodom is hardly plausible or touching. The characters are just actors busily skipping through the traces of stock theatric situations. . . Despite the authentic settings and the efforts of the large and able cast. 'San Francisco's' only claim to greatness is in the remarkable earthquake sequences. They will shake you right out of your seat." (Zy2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p2S Ag 8 '36 "There are two things which make 'San Francisco' well worth going miles to see: the singing of Jeanette MacDonald and the astound ing earthquake sequences toward the end. I again doff a reverential derby to Hollywood technicians. . . There is nothing notable in the general set-up. Again we have an utterly untrue and beglamoured picture of the Barbary Coast. Not for children." Don Herold Life p29 S '36 "It is a vigorous, dramatic motion-picture moving steadily toward a climax without compare in the history of film-making." + + Lit Digest p!8 Jl 11 '36 "An excellent technical job which reaffirms W. S. Van Dyke's title of Hollywood master." -| + Nation pllO Jl 25 '36 "In this film everybody talks about sin. . . Spencer Tracy in a dog-collar is well worth seeing; the combination is almost unbelievable but he pulls it off and is about the one really convincing thing in the whole picture. The story is uninspired. The result is worth seeing." New Statesman & Nation pl60 Ag 1 '36 "Far removed from the simple and often affecting religiosity of 'The Green Pastures' is this bromidic Legion of Decency conception of the San Francisco earthquake as an Act of God that brought the gospel to Clark Gable and rendered him fit mate for Jeanette MacDonald, the parson's daughter. The synthetic wonders of the earthquake scene are hardly compensation enough for the nausea Miss MacDonald's slyly erotic exaltations induce." Robert Stebbins — New Theatre p22 Ag '36 "It is a cunningly screened pattern of cinematic hokum. While the narrative is not to be recommended for its dramatic or emotional integrity, W. S. Van Dyke has shot the works in his direction and the performers have given the material the over-emphasis necessary to make it a showy entertainment. . . Mr. Gable, as Blackie, is the most successful member of the company. . . Spencer Tracy is not so fortunate in the part of the holy father, but the role is not one that lends itself to the actor's particular talents. . . As for Jeanette MacDonald, she is almost entirely nonplussed by the proceedings. When she is chanting rag-time ditties in a Barbary Coast cabaret she is engaging and believable, but there is not much to be said for her renditions of operatic fragments when she has been taken up by the dudes, and she scarcely ever achieves any power in her straight acting." Howard Barnes H NY Herald Tribune plO Je 27 '36 " 'San Francisco' of course is melodrama; and Mr. Van Dyke, what with 'The Thin Man' and a few others, has proved that he knows how to make them. The new film is less brittle, less insistent upon comic values than the others. The story of course is really almost artificial, a fact not at all important in a picture which can show so convincingly the destruction of a great city. . . The picture is overlong. . . With those earthquake scenes, with Miss MacDonald's golden voice and beauty, with the dimpled Mr. Gable in a he-man role, and with Mr. Tracy quietly humorous, quietly powerful as ■ the understanding priest, 'San Francisco' doesn't have to worry much about length or anything else." Eileen Creelman + + N Y Sun pl2 Je 27 '36 "[The earthquake] is a shattering spectacle, one of the truly great cinematic illusions; a monstrous, hideous, thrilling debacle. . . For so impressive and thoroughly entertaining a picture, only a round robin of appreciation would do justice to the many who shared in its making. . . Mr. Tracy, late of 'Fury,' is heading surely toward an award for the finest performances of the year." F. S. Nugent + + N Y Times p21 Je 27 '36 "There comes a time in every motion picture reviewer's life when he is afflicted by a sense of remorse for having squandered his stock of adjectives, for having abused by constant repetition the value and power of such words as 'great,' 'magnificent.' 'superb,' because when a truly notable film comes along + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -| Fair; [-Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor