Daily Archives: August 4, 2013

Bullets or Ballots
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Seton I. Miller based on a story by Martin Mooney and Seton I. Miller
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Mr. Thorndyke: Why did you try to take over the job?

Johnny Blake: I didn’t try and take it over, I took it over.[/box]

I am basically enjoying the hell out of 1936.  This Warner Bros. gangster movie, in the tradition of G-Men, is a ton of fun with classic performances from two of my main men – Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.

Gangland is turning into racketeering with corporate leadership.  Government has been able to do little to stop it due to corruption in its own ranks.  Finally, after the assassination of a muckraking journalist, a grand jury makes Capt. Dan McLaren police commissioner and gives him a mandate to crack down.  McLaren’s right-hand man Johnny Blake (Edward G. Robinson) is suddenly fired.  The next time we see Blake he is working for gang boss Al Kruger (Barton MacLane), who is facing rebellion in the ranks.  Blake makes a name for himself by building an organized numbers racket.  But Kruger’s second-in-command ‘Bugs’ Fenner (Humphrey Bogart) believes Blake is a double-crosser and is determined to bring him down.  With Joan Blondell and Louise Beavers as small-time numbers runners and Frank McHugh as their comedy bag man.

This movie was just a joy to watch.  Bogart and Robinson were at the top of their game.  I loved watching the fleeting smirks and other expressions light up their faces.  This is fast-paced action fare, with the emphasis on bullets, not ballots.  Recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QupukQSb0DQ

Trailer

San Francisco
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Written by Anita Loos from the story by Robert E. Hopkins
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

[box] Waiter at Chicken’s Ball: [referring to the earthquake] Well, we certainly don’t do things halfway in San Francisco.[/box]

The music is the best thing about this glossy but cliche-ridden dramatic musical/disaster flick.

Honorable but unbelieving Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) owns a saloon/cabaret/gambling hall called The Paradise on the wicked Barbary Coast of San Francisco.  His boyhood pal Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy) keeps trying to reform Blackie but is getting nowhere.  One day, starving young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) comes into The Paradise looking for work.  Blackie is taken with Mary and gives her a job that shows off her legs and allows her to belt out “San Francisco” at his joint.  Soon an opera impresario notices that Mary has a beautiful trained soprano voice but Blackie balks at letting Mary out of her contract.  Mary has fallen in love with Blackie and is about to succumb to his advances when it is Father Mullen to the rescue.  When will Heavenly Vengeance rescue the modern-day Sodom from its sinful ways?  How about at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906?

First I should say that I enjoyed the film quite a bit the first time I saw it and gave it a rating of 9/10.  On repeat viewing, I wondered what I was thinking.  While the acting and production are good, the story struck me as extremely hokey.  Basically, we are treated to an epic struggle for the Immortal Souls of Blackie and Mary.  Blackie’s soul can only be won by the mass destruction of the city he loves by earthquake.

I found the earthquake scenes clumsy although they were probably groundbreaking in 1936.  D.W. Griffith reportedly directed the sequence and it shows.  Jeanette MacDonald has some charming numbers including her first rendition of “San Francisco”, a tender version of “Would You?” and two operatic arias.  However, her final performance of “San Francisco” at a climatic point in the plot and right before the building starts shaking reminded me of nothing less than Al Jolson belting out “Swanee”.

San Francisco was the top-grossing film of 1936.  The city was in the news that year as the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction.  The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including for Best Production, and won the Oscar for Best Sound Recording.

Re-release trailer