The Movie San Francisco Almost a Time Machine

Actual San Francisco Earthquake Aftermath 1906

Watching the movie San Francisco made in 1936 with Clark Gable, Jeanette McDonald, Spencer Tracy, and a cast of thousands, or at least it seemed that way.  The movie is a drama, typical of 99.9% of dramas made in the movies or on tv for that matter, boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy acts stupid, boy loses girl. Let me say right here that I don't care for female operatic singing, those high screeching voices make my hair stand up, so I didn't watch it for that, and although I tolerated Ms McDonalds voice I didn't completely hate it.  Anyway, you can ignore most of the movie up through the Chicken Ball. As regards the time machine yes it shows how people looked, dressed and lived in 1906. I don't remember seeing one car, lots of horses and wagon's of various types, but not one car. The movie was made just 30 years after  so it would be kind of like a movie depicting life in 1980 for us, lots of people that knew exactly how it would have been, what it looked like, even clothes in their closets from that time. I still have clothes from the 70's and 80's, I don't wear but I could and I figure these people back then watching the movie and making it probably did too, the point being that because there were so many around that would know, it would have been pretty close authentically. It wasn't really that different in the 30's than 30 years before, just like it's really not that much different in 2010 than it was in 1980, some of course, but not that much.
Where the time machine comes into play is the end of the movie when the earthquake hits. The first thing we see is in a club, after the Chicken Ball, the quake hits, people get this look on their faces, we look up and the ceiling cracks and a big chandelier drops. The people start running and the building comes down on them. We see Clark Gable dive under a table just as a brick wall collapses on him. Ouside buildings are collapsing the ground is splitting, water mains are gushing, fires are burning. It probably is as close to seeing the real San Francisco earthquake really happen as we now will come. For all we know, people that made this movie may have been there, who knows?    I'm from California, and going back, so I've been through relatively minor quakes, But this was interesting and as close to being in a real earthquake as I want to get.

 

This is a video of part of the earthquake scenes from the movie San Francisco. Below are two contemporary movies, silent of course  of the actual 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the aftermath.

Lee Murray

Looking Into The Past...Again

I've talked before about how movies allow us to look into the past through a window in time.  Tonight I saw into two different times in the same movie.  I was watching San Francisco. I looked through the window and saw Clark Gable, Jennette McDonald, and Spenser Tracy as well as hundreds of actors as they were in 1936. This was the first window. This was only 30 years after the earthquake.  So in that sense it was as though a movie were made about something that happened in 1979 or 1980. To most of us, except for the very young, 1979 or 80 is relatable. I was working at Memorex, living in Fullerton, and still, although it was winding down, dating a lovely Christian girl, named Susie.  It seems like yesterday.  To them, that was recent history, if they weren't around their parents were, it was recent history, like yesterday.  But, to most of us 1906, and the San Francisco earthquake, is history, with a capital H. Something from a book. Not relatable at all. My grandparents were kids or teenagers back then  To most of the actors in the movie it was recent history, relatable.  The second window. We can ignore most of the movie it was drama, a story.  No, I take that back. Watch the movie and see how people lived, dressed, talked, partied, and communicated in those times. It shows how in many ways we've moved backwards with our TV's, and internet.  Back then you'd get out, eat out, mix with others, not today, I'm sorry to say.  But, seeing the earthquake is the important part of what we saw the second window.   I've seen the move several times, yes I admit it I'm a fan. We see an earthquake that looks so real it brings tears to your eyes, walls and buildings collapsing, people crushed, gas fires. It's so real the only way we'll probably see a more real version of the 1906 earthquake is with a real time machine.  The amazing thing is that these very real special effects were done without computers, without George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic, without even more modern techniques, this was just a few years after they made King Kong using a clay dummy filmed one frame at a time.  Watch the movie, judge for yourself.

Lee Murray