"SAN FRANCISCO"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 27 November 1936, Page 10

"SAN FRANCISCO"

DRAMA, LOVE, COMEDY SPECTACLE AT MAJESTIC "San ITaneo.sco,’’ the M-G-M production coming to tile Majestic Theatre to-day, has drama, love I interest, comedy, and spectacle. Clark Gable has the rough and tough type of role in which his screen public likes him best. Jeanette McDonald has tiie ideal part to give her opportunity io sing, arid when she sings there is a reason for her singing, for her songs are a part of the plot. The story, directed by W. S. Van Dyke and produced by Bernard Hyman and John Emerson, is the story of Hie Barbary Coast of thirty years ago. opening on New Year’s Eve. 1906 and continuing through one of the most disastrous dramas of the century, the San Francisco earthquake and fire. Gable is the boss of one of the most popular resorts on the Barbary Coast. Miss MacDonald is the small-town girl who wanders into his dance hall, filled with ambition to become a great singer. Beginning lie career on the Coast, she succeeds in rising to operatic heights, but returns to the Coast to sing in tights for the man she loves. Gable has never been seen to greater advantage than in his • present, role in which he gives a performance that stands out for its power and sharply-etched character de ineation. Miss MacDonald singing songs which range from simple ballads to glorious operatic arias surpasses even her suberb work- in "Rose Marie” ana "Naughty Marietta." Perhaps the greatest surprise of the picture, however is the strikingly different, portrayal of Spencer Tracy. who abandons his usual lough roles to contribute a sincere and unforgotten portrait of the priest. Father Mullin.