San Francisco

MGM's important big-screen studio brought together the disparate Gable/MacDonald duo, who would not become perennials for years to come. However, as a standalone project, it's a film worth watching. We follow a short period of time from New Year's Eve 1905 to the fateful April 18, 1906, when San Francisco was leveled by a devastating earthquake. On the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, which is considered one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history (claiming 3,000 lives), it was only fitting to make a respectful disaster drama. The supplementary theme is, of course, a strong love drama, so that we develop a relationship with the characters who are about to experience the disaster. The story of selfish and unrequited love is graced by several great operatic performances by MacDonald in Gounod's "Faust" and Verdi's "La Traviata." The invisible cooperation between D.W. Griffith and Erich von Stroheim, who did not make it into the credits, is downright interesting. The copy of the film available today is not the original, but is an edited film from 1948. (25/07/2020)