Frisco Jenny
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by Wilson Mizner and Robert Lord
1932/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 3
Frisco Jenny Sandoval: Born in a cellar under a fish market; but, a gentleman, Amah. A real man. Nothing beyond his reach. District Attorney. Governor. Even President.
Amah: Confucius says: Fortunate is the mother of a man-child.
This is sort of like Madame X with an earthquake. The earthquake is the best part.
The story is set in San Francisco just prior to the 1906 earthquake and fire. Frisco Jenny Sandoval helps her abusive father (Robert Emmet O’Conner) run a low-rent saloon on the Barbary Coast. She is in charge of the many prostitutes that ply their trade there. Jenny is in love with piano player Dan McAllister (James Murray). They want to marry but Dad won’t have it. Before the lovers can come up with a Plan B, the earthquake destroys the saloon and kills both Jenny’s father and Dan.
This leaves Jenny a pregnant orphan. She gives birth in squalor in Chinatown and raises the boy she names Dan for a couple of years. During this time she decides to open a brothel and eventually has a big success with it.
Jenny is present when her attorney and partner Steve Dutton (Louis Calhern) shoots a man. She helps him dispose of the evidence. Dutton advises Jenny to let a wealthy couple adopt her son, at least until the heat is off. But Jenny never gets him back.
SPOILER ALERT
Time marches on and with it Dan becomes a successful athlete and scholar. He gets a job with the District Attorney’s office and has plans to run for District Attorney. Dutton wants to reveal Dan’s origins to spoil his chances in the election. So Jenny shoots Steve. The film ends with a trial in which Dan unknowingly prosecutes his own mother.
Wellman directs a mean earthquake. Although this film includes several pre-Code topics it has few light moments or any of that snappy patter I love so much. The acting is OK. I always like Louis Calhern. I hadn’t know his career was so long. The costumes and sets are lavish. Unless you are in the mood for a well-made but badly scripted melodrama, I would give this a miss.
