Old San Francisco

A dastardly Chinese criminal in OLD SAN FRANCISCO schemes to possess a lovely señorita and her Spanish land-grant rancho.

Although replete with racial stereotyping, it must be admitted that this vintage Silent film is an awful lot of fun. Produced just before the onset of Talkies, the movie represents the high degree of expertise the Studios had attained in telling a story through the medium of filmed pantomime. Excellent production values, an exciting story and very good acting are all part of the mix in the film's success, while the climaxing special effects depicting the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake & fire are satisfying both visually and as plot development.

Beautiful Dolores Costello is exceptional as the privileged young lady who must survive a terrible adventure into San Francisco's criminal depths, her lovely face & eyes conveying every emotion her character experiences. Joseph Swickard gives a noble performance as her proud, patrician grandfather. High-spirited Charles Emmett Mack ably fills the requisite hero's role as the courageous young Irish lawyer who loves Miss Costello. Looking like evil incarnate, Swedish actor Warner Oland steals a few scenes as the malicious malefactor who plots Miss Costello's undoing.

Exotic Anna May Wong appears briefly as an Underworld minx. Tiny Angelo Rossitto is memorable as Oland's dwarf brother.

Movie mavens will recognize Sojin as a Chinatown elder, John Miljan as a slightly craven Spanish-Californian, and Willie Fung as a smiling servant, all uncredited.

One thing you sure have to say about OLD SAN FRANCISCO is that it is a very lovely film to see. The print, though very old, is in almost pristine shape (at least the version they showed on Turner Classic Movies) and the soundtrack exceptional. In addition, the director and cinematographer were absolutely brilliant--making the most of every scene with the most artistic touch for a silent I have seen in a very long time. Delores Costello is simply luminous thanks to them and so many of the scenes were treats for the eyes--such as the scene between Costello and her suitor at the fountain. It just doesn't get much prettier than this.

As for the story, it was nice to see that Hollywood was trying to be sensitive towards Hispanic-Americans, as they are shown in a very sympathetic light. A major problem is that despite being so very pro-minority, none of the people playing these roles are Hispanic--a very common problem in Hollywood until the 1960s (and sometimes beyond). Today such a practice would be condemned--in 1927, it was par for the course. In this film, Delores Costello did a great job acting (she was terrific), but she looked about as Hispanic as Shirley Temple. If you don't believe me that such casting was common, try watching a Charlie Chan or Mr. Moto film---as these characters were repeatedly played by actors of European descent. In fact, Warner Oland who popularized the Chan role is even in this film playing the role of a big dumb jerk who happens to be a Mongolian man posing as a White man! Oh, and most of the Asians in this film are drug dealers, pimps or assorted low-lifes, so I am pretty sure Asian-Americans probably didn't line up to see this film!

The story is about a family of noble Spanish blood living in San Francisco in the early 20th century. Though they have lived there before the Americans arrived, they are continually treated like outsiders as the Anglos and Chinese gangs take advantage of them again and again. Thanks to a nice young Irishman who has fallen for sweet Delores, the family has a benefactor and things might work out for the better....or not! See it for yourself to see if sweet Delores manages to escape the lecherous clutches of the Chinese underworld white slavers and greedy land speculators (for a hint: God doesn't like what is happening and perhaps He'll have to intervene).

Despite the film's many shortcomings and overt racism as well as a sappy ending (all of which can be understood based on the age of the film and prevailing social mores), the film certainly IS exciting--mostly because of its scandalous subject matter and fast pace. This combined with the artistic nature of the film make it a film worth seeing. Just don't let your politically correct friends and co-workers know! The sight of Oland's midget brother kept locked in a cage throughout the film like a dog is just too much to bear.

Old San Francisco (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fifth Vitaphone production from Warner is silent all the way through with the exception of some sound effects used in small places. The film tells the story of a Spanish family who moved to what would become San Francisco to set up their ranch but in 1906 an evil Chinese landowner (Warner Oland) tries to steal it away. The Spanish daughter (Dolores Costello) must try and save her land even though the odds are against here and all the fighting leads up to the famous earthquake. This is a decent movie at best, which works on some levels but is rather disappointing in others. This type of revenge story isn't anything new and had been going on as early as the Griffith shorts at Biograph. Storywise nothing new is really done here but a few nice things happen with the new setting of Chinatown. Today the racial stereotypes of the Chinese folks would be considered racist but what we see here was accepted in 1927. Costello is pretty good in the lead role as she brings some energy to her character that helps the film. Oland is also very good as the Chinese man who pretends to be white in order to try and steal the land. Charles Emmett Mack and Anna May Wong have supporting roles and are pretty good as well. I'm not 100% certain but the final earthquake sequence appears to have scenes borrowed from the Lon Chaney film The Shock, which was also set in San Francisco and featured the legendary earthquake. With that in mind, the final earthquake sequence really isn't that impressive but there are some newly filmed scenes mixed in of building burning and these effects look pretty good. The Vitaphone sound effects are all rather small and include a few gunshots early on, bells ringing and a few screams during the earthquake.

This is one of the last silent films, made just before "The Jazz Singer" came out, and it is technically better than most of the other silent films as it used Warner Brothers Vitaphone technique.

It also benefits from a tour d'force by Dolores Costello (who was the wife of John Barrymore at the time) and is probably one of her best roles. She manages to go beyond the silent film melodrama, as does Anna May Wong, the busiest Asian woman in films in the first half of the 20th Century.

Warner Oland (a Swede who nonetheless almost always play an Asian, including his stint as Charlie Chan) shows up as a Chinese thug who masquerades as a White man, although Oland is not at the top of his game here.

The climax of the film is the 1906 earthquake and for the time it is spectacular. The version of the restored film I saw had both the beginning and the end in harsh sepia tones, but the middle was fine.

The film is well worth viewing as one of the last great silent films.

For those weary of political correctness and who pine for the "good old days" before racial sensitivity, this film is a good antidote. It apparently caused a riot by Chinese-Americans in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1927, for good reason. Asian characters are involved in every sort of illicit subterfuge, from the opiate trade to fraud to white slavery; they worship false gods and, being heathen, cannot withstand the pure, righteous sound of Christian church bells, nor overcome good old fashioned Christian prayer.

Yikes!