Review of San Francisco (1936) by Gayle H — 28 Jul 2008

I want to like this movie more than I do - and I gave it another chance last night, but... Here's a conversation I think must have happened between the Screenwriter and the Director:

"Hey - you cut out all of the scenes where Mary acts like she's actually in love with Blackie! Plus, now Blackie's totally unlikeable!".

"Relax. We got Gable.".

"GABLE is going to play Blackie?!?".

"Yeah, Jeannette requested him specially.".

"Okay. Whew. Don't scare me like that. What are you going to put in all that extra space?".

"Singing.".

"Ohhhh... So, she's just going to SING like she's in love with him, instead of ACTING like it?".

"Yeah, that works best for Jeannette, and Gable will just take care of the rest.".

"Okay. You want Gable to take his shirt off? I can write you a boxing scene or something...".

Aaaaaannnd, scene.

I'm kidding about the boxing scene though - it's a good one, and gives a good intro for Tracy's character and their relationship... But seriously about the rest; the only interesting interactions between the two are her singing sweetly at him, while he gives her Spider-to-the-Fly looks that are positively obscene. It's a very strange movie.