San Francisco (1936)
San Francisco (1936)
A very entertaining Best Picture Oscar nominee featuring the first of several successful pairings of Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy who received his first Best Actor nomination as well. Jeanette MacDonald is also in the cast singing as usual. Other AA nominations were received for Director (W.S. Van Dyke II) and Writing. It won for Best Sound Recording and includes some terrific earthquake special effects (before that category was added in 1940 for the films of 1939). Gable owns a nightclub Tracy is a man of the cloth that’s also his friend. They like to box with one another literally. Enter MacDonald a nice girl not usually Gable’s type and Tracy becomes his conscience. Jack Holt plays a rival of Gable’s who wants to hire her away. Spoiler – awfully nice for the earthquake to wait until just after the singing competition.