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Deleted line(s) 29 (click to see context) :
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Father Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently, they're prostitutes.
to:
%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the seats for Father Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently, they're prostitutes.future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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Changed line(s) 8,11 (click to see context) from:
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] of the city. Into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially, Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this, he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this, he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
to:
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] Barbary Coast]], then the main RedLightDistrict of the city. Into On New Year's Day, 1906, into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment.employment, and whose residence has just burned down. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially, Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on theCoast.Coast, spurred on by the fire that destroyed Mary's building. In this, he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim Mullin (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the
Changed line(s) 14,15 (click to see context) from:
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. [[note]]It took over twenty years to them to make up[[/note]] (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
to:
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. [[note]]It took over twenty years to them to make up[[/note]] up.[[/note]] (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", Francisco," composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
Changed line(s) 19,21 (click to see context) from:
!!Tropes:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary picks between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary picks between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
to:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there are only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
to:
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''.''Film/{{Deluge}}''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there are only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently, they're prostitutes.
to:
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Father Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently, they're prostitutes.
Changed line(s) 34,36 (click to see context) from:
* RomanticFalseLead: Burley. Mary clearly loves Blackie but winds up accepting Burley's proposal after she and Blackie break up. It never occurs to her that she could just be single and work in the opera for a while.
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at the Chicken Ball really takes this trope to the limit when he says "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy and controlling. ("That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.")
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at the Chicken Ball really takes this trope to the limit when he says "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy and controlling. ("That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.")
to:
* RomanticFalseLead: Burley. Mary clearly loves Blackie but winds up accepting Burley's proposal after she and Blackie break up. It never occurs to her that she could just be single and work in the opera for a while.
while--or perhaps she fears professional consequences from rejecting her patron's advances.
* ShowSomeLeg: At Mary's audition, even before asking her to sing, Blackie demands that she display her legs for his inspection. She does, though thanks to UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode the camera remains on the other side of the table.
* ShowWithinAShow: Mary's debut at the San Francisco Opera showcases all of her character's important scenes from beginning to end.
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at theChicken Chicken's Ball really takes this trope to the limit when he says says, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy andcontrolling. ("That's controlling.
-->'''Blackie:''' That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.")
* ShowSomeLeg: At Mary's audition, even before asking her to sing, Blackie demands that she display her legs for his inspection. She does, though thanks to UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode the camera remains on the other side of the table.
* ShowWithinAShow: Mary's debut at the San Francisco Opera showcases all of her character's important scenes from beginning to end.
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at the
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy and
-->'''Blackie:''' That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.
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Changed line(s) 8,11 (click to see context) from:
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] of the city. Into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
to:
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] of the city. Into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially Initially, Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. Inthis this, he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In
Changed line(s) 14,17 (click to see context) from:
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
Apparently Creator/DWGriffith, who had not directed a movie in five years and in fact would never direct another film, was visiting the set one day, leading his old friend and former protege Woody Van Dyke to let him direct the earthquake scenes.
Apparently Creator/DWGriffith, who had not directed a movie in five years and in fact would never direct another film, was visiting the set one day, leading his old friend and former protege Woody Van Dyke to let him direct the earthquake scenes.
to:
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. [[note]]It took over twenty years to them to make up[[/note]] (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
Apparently Apparently, Creator/DWGriffith, who had not directed a movie in five years and in fact would never direct another film, was visiting the set one day, leading his old friend and former protege Woody Van Dyke to let him direct the earthquake scenes.
Changed line(s) 21,22 (click to see context) from:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary pick between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would any dance hall variety show have been likely to still be going at 5 o'clock in the morning?
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would any dance hall variety show have been likely to still be going at 5 o'clock in the morning?
to:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary pick picks between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would anydance hall dancehall variety show have been likely to still be going at 5 o'clock in the morning?
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would any
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there's only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
to:
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there's there are only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently they're prostitutes.
to:
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently Apparently, they're prostitutes.
Changed line(s) 37 (click to see context) from:
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The paper on April 17, 1906 has a front page headline announcing Mary and Burley's engagement. Presumably the next edition had bigger news to report.
to:
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The paper on April 17, 1906 has a front page front-page headline announcing Mary and Burley's engagement. Presumably Presumably, the next edition had bigger news to report.
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Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
It is set in Des Moines, Iowa--no, just kidding, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco--in the months immediately before the earthquake of April 18, 1906.
to:
It is set in Des Moines, Iowa--no, just kidding, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco--in the months immediately before the earthquake of April 18, 1906.1906 earthquake.
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Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
''San Francisco'' is a 1936 musical drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, starring Creator/ClarkGable, Jeanette [=MacDonald=], and Creator/SpencerTracy.
to:
''San Francisco'' is a 1936 musical drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, starring Creator/ClarkGable, Jeanette [=MacDonald=], Creator/JeanetteMacDonald, and Creator/SpencerTracy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/san_francisco_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Mary auditions.]]
''San Francisco'' is a 1936 musical drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, starring Creator/ClarkGable, Jeanette [=MacDonald=], and Creator/SpencerTracy.
It is set in Des Moines, Iowa--no, just kidding, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco--in the months immediately before the earthquake of April 18, 1906.
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] of the city. Into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
All of these plot elements are short-circuited when the whole city is destroyed on April 18, 1906.
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
Apparently Creator/DWGriffith, who had not directed a movie in five years and in fact would never direct another film, was visiting the set one day, leading his old friend and former protege Woody Van Dyke to let him direct the earthquake scenes.
----
!!Tropes:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary pick between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would any dance hall variety show have been likely to still be going at 5 o'clock in the morning?
* AtTheOperaTonight: Two different scenes have Mary singing opera at the Tivoli Theater.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Part of Blackie's StrawAtheist deal, as he mocks the poor schmucks who come to Tim's church asking God for help instead of taking what they want.
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there's only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
* DrivingADesk: Couldn't they have mounted a camera on the front of the carriage when Blackie and Mary are tooling around?
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The opening scene has a building on the Barbary Coast burn down, leading to much chatter about the lack of fire safety in the district and causing Blackie to run for office.
* FruitCart: A variant of this trope proves surprisingly effective tragedy, as a toppling statue crushes a fruit vendor and his cart.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently they're prostitutes.
* HollywoodAtheist: Blackie pours scorn on Father Tim's faith, and the habit of poor people of asking God for help instead of helping themselves. This is all so he can have a moment of religious conversion at the end of the film and finally be worthy of Mary's love.
* MelismaticVocals: "Sa-a-a-a-a-n Francisco, open your golden gate..."
* NewYearHasCome: The movie opens with the good folks of the Barbary Coast celebrating New Year's 1905-6.
* RedLightDistrict: The Barbary Coast had been the red light district of the city since it was founded during the gold rush, teeming with dance halls and prostitutes and gambling dens. Blackie wants to build the Coast up. In RealLife the city cracked down on vice and corruption in the Coast just a few years after the quake, causing such activities to move to the Tenderloin.
* RomanticFalseLead: Burley. Mary clearly loves Blackie but winds up accepting Burley's proposal after she and Blackie break up. It never occurs to her that she could just be single and work in the opera for a while.
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at the Chicken Ball really takes this trope to the limit when he says "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy and controlling. ("That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.")
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The paper on April 17, 1906 has a front page headline announcing Mary and Burley's engagement. Presumably the next edition had bigger news to report.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Mary auditions.]]
''San Francisco'' is a 1936 musical drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, starring Creator/ClarkGable, Jeanette [=MacDonald=], and Creator/SpencerTracy.
It is set in Des Moines, Iowa--no, just kidding, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco--in the months immediately before the earthquake of April 18, 1906.
Blackie Norton (Gable) is a saloon keeper on the Barbary Coast, then the main [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast,_San_Francisco red light district]] of the city. Into his saloon wanders Mary Blake ([=MacDonald=]), a new arrival to the city and would-be opera singer who has failed to find a job and is desperate for any employment. Blackie hires her for $75 a week as a dance hall singer. Initially Mary resists Blackie's crude sexual advances, but soon they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Blackie has been recruited by fellow Barbary Coast saloon owners to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on a platform of improving the fire codes and safety standards of buildings on the Coast. In this he is opposed by Jack Burley, a Nob Hill aristocrat and Barbary Coast slumlord who doesn't want to pay to upgrade his properties. Burley is also fighting Jack for Mary, both professionally--he is a patron of the San Francisco Opera and wants Mary to sing there--and personally, as he wants Mary to be his wife. Blackie for his part wants Mary all to himself. Blackie's old friend Tim (Tracy), now a Roman Catholic priest who works in a Barbary Coast mission, is also against his relationship with Mary, believing her to be too fine and noble to be a dance hall girl and a saloon keeper's lover.
All of these plot elements are short-circuited when the whole city is destroyed on April 18, 1906.
The only film to pair fellow MGM stars Gable and [=MacDonald=], partly because Gable couldn't sing, and partly because they loathed each other. (Legend has it that Gable deliberately ate a spaghetti lunch loaded up with garlic before filming a kissing scene with [=MacDonald=], to make his breath particularly bad.) The song "San Francisco", composed for this film and performed several times, has become an iconic theme tune of the city.
Apparently Creator/DWGriffith, who had not directed a movie in five years and in fact would never direct another film, was visiting the set one day, leading his old friend and former protege Woody Van Dyke to let him direct the earthquake scenes.
----
!!Tropes:
* AnswerCut: A big showdown between Blackie and Burley ends with Blackie demanding that Mary pick between the opera and him. The movie cuts to a poster advertising Mary's act at Blackie's club.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Really, would any dance hall variety show have been likely to still be going at 5 o'clock in the morning?
* AtTheOperaTonight: Two different scenes have Mary singing opera at the Tivoli Theater.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Part of Blackie's StrawAtheist deal, as he mocks the poor schmucks who come to Tim's church asking God for help instead of taking what they want.
* DisasterMovie: One of the first, but not ''the'' first, as the genre dates at least as far back as 1933 and ''Deluge''. Also atypical of what would become the standard format, as the earthquake doesn't hit until there's only 20 minutes left in a nearly two-hour movie. MGM spared no expense, putting entire sets on raised platforms and shaking them to simulate an earthquake. The effect still looks good in the 21st century.
* DrivingADesk: Couldn't they have mounted a camera on the front of the carriage when Blackie and Mary are tooling around?
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The opening scene has a building on the Barbary Coast burn down, leading to much chatter about the lack of fire safety in the district and causing Blackie to run for office.
* FruitCart: A variant of this trope proves surprisingly effective tragedy, as a toppling statue crushes a fruit vendor and his cart.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Two suspiciously well-dressed, good-looking young women with sad expressions on their faces are in the seats for Reverend Tim's otherwise sparsely attended sermon. Apparently they're prostitutes.
* HollywoodAtheist: Blackie pours scorn on Father Tim's faith, and the habit of poor people of asking God for help instead of helping themselves. This is all so he can have a moment of religious conversion at the end of the film and finally be worthy of Mary's love.
* MelismaticVocals: "Sa-a-a-a-a-n Francisco, open your golden gate..."
* NewYearHasCome: The movie opens with the good folks of the Barbary Coast celebrating New Year's 1905-6.
* RedLightDistrict: The Barbary Coast had been the red light district of the city since it was founded during the gold rush, teeming with dance halls and prostitutes and gambling dens. Blackie wants to build the Coast up. In RealLife the city cracked down on vice and corruption in the Coast just a few years after the quake, causing such activities to move to the Tenderloin.
* RomanticFalseLead: Burley. Mary clearly loves Blackie but winds up accepting Burley's proposal after she and Blackie break up. It never occurs to her that she could just be single and work in the opera for a while.
* TemptingFate: A drunk spectator at the Chicken Ball really takes this trope to the limit when he says "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die."
* ThirdPersonPerson: Blackie has a habit of slipping into this when he gets bossy and controlling. ("That's the way you're going to sing it, or you're not going to sing it for Blackie.")
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The paper on April 17, 1906 has a front page headline announcing Mary and Burley's engagement. Presumably the next edition had bigger news to report.
----
