San Francisco

Set in San Francisco in the years before the 1906 earthquake, this film centres on Blackie Norton, the arrogant owner of a rowdy Barbary Coast nightspot. Mary Blake arrives from the country, desperate for work, and he hires her as a singer and signs her to a contract. Her ambitions reach further: she wants to sing opera, and she also performs in the choir of Father Tim Mullin. Blackie insists on holding her to their agreement, even when a more prestigious engagement comes her way, and a wealthy rival, Jack Burley, offers her a place at the Tivoli Opera. Though Blackie and Mary grow close enough to plan a marriage, her wish to pursue an opera career drives them apart. The priest, meanwhile, works to change Blackie's ways. The story moves toward the great earthquake and the fires that follow it.

W.S. Van Dyke directed, working from a screenplay by Anita Loos and Herman J. Mankiewicz; John Emerson, Bernard H. Hyman and Van Dyke produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film came after Van Dyke's After the Thin Man (1936) and before Rosalie (1937) in his filmography. Clark Gable plays Blackie, Jeanette MacDonald plays Mary, and Spencer Tracy plays Father Mullin, with Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph and Ted Healy among the credited cast of 46.

Made for about a million dollars, it returned roughly three million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.1/10 from around 6,600 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.6/10 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 7.2/10 from 13 reviews places it slightly above the audience score, though the two are close.