Frisco Jenny

Another Pre-Code Entertainer from Prolific Director William Wellman. This One Stars an Actress that is Virtually Unknown Today but has a Fan Following, Ruth Chatteron. The Recycled Soap Opera Plot is for those who like Weepy Melodrama with Strong Female Sufferers in Tragic Situations.

It Spans a Generation of Time in its 70 Minutes and is Another Example of Movie Making Magic in its Most Concise Form. The Opening is the Year of the San Francisco Earthquake and the Barbary Coast is the Backdrop for that Natural Disaster as the Story Begins to Unfold a Natural Disaster of it Own.

The Pre-Code Only "Bastard Child" to a Woman of Ill Repute who must Relinquish Her Son because to Society its a Sin to Sell Your Body and the Baby must be Taken Away. But the Heart of Gold Mother Fights, in More Ways than One, to make Sure the Child is Cared for.

Overall, this is a Classic Tale Told with Class. The Costuming is Excellent, the Acting Acceptable, the Camera Work Outstanding. The Earthquake Scenes are Exceptional. It is Not Edgy like a Lot of Pre-Coders but it Makes Up for it with Style and Story.

Not as 'notorious' a Pre-Code, as Chatterton's 'Female', released the following year, but anyway a highly entertaining film, that tells the story of 'fast-talking' 'Jenny Sandoval', who after the big San Francisco 1906 earthquake (great special effects in these sequence), 'rises' from the slums to the 'heights' of being the most powerful Brothel Madam of the whole city, with all kinds of 'useful' connections.

Nice to watch a 'young' Louis Calhern as a politician who is Chatterton's pal (23 years before his highly amusing role as Grace Kelly's bon-vivant uncle in MGM's 'High Society'). Also good performances by Helen Jerome Eddy as Chatterton's Chinese maid and Donald Cook as Chatterton's grown-up illegitimate son.

Somewhat reminiscent of Chatterton's 1929 MGM flick 'Madame X' aka as Absinthe, but better, and much swifter.

Frisco Jenny (1932)

I found this remarkable. I can guess that some people will balk at the "oldness" of the scenes and acting. Yeah, of course it's black and white. It ahs characters that might seem like caricatures, simple and obvious. But more important is the leading woman, who is terrific, Ruth Chatterton.

And key to it all is the great San Francisco earthquake. The movie is set in 1906 (this is shown in the opening frames) and so the incredible devastation is a given. And it's really well done, with buildings falling, the ground rolling (really!), and even what looks like some actual footage of the burning. Despite a lighthearted element throughout (there is a healthy sense of humor even in some of the serious moments), the overall intention is a serious social drama. Not only do we see the difficulty brought on by the quake, but the problem of an unwed mother in the middle of it all.

Only a pre-code film could pull off this kind of crossed intentions and make a drama without all kinds of covering up. So expect something terrific.

William Wellman is a great underrated director, a little like Michael Curtiz a decade later, making mainstream films really well. Both of these directors (and throw in William Wyler) were part of the Hollywood style, and in some ways helped formulate that "style." So they seem unexceptional in some ways even if their movies are really sophisticated. Here, Wellman pulls one great move after another, with moving camera, or a slow track in on a face, or quick pans instead of cuts from one face to another, and so on. The filming and editing is unsually smart. The acting works well in every case, and sometimes works exceptionally. Besides Chatterton in the title and lead role, who is remarkable in every way, there are a few side parts, including one by the dependable Louis Calhern.

And the story moves and moves. It's like an epic novel going through many years in just over an hour.

If you are plot oriented, I think you'll also find this movie special. The first scenes lead to the quake leading to a series of different kinds of scenearios that are really unexpected. So it continually surprises. And there is a weird and wonderful conflict between utter virtue (a mother watching out for her child) and ruthlessness (a mother coolly breaking the law to do so). Not all goes smoothly, of course, and so the movie takes on still other levels.

So, watch this with fascination and visual appreciation. If you let it, it will tug on your heart strings (even if the baby is an unsympathetic shouting brat!). If you have trouble finding it, look for Warner Archive Instant, which has a ton of old movies set up a little like Netflix. Enjoy!

Need to see a lot more of William A. Wellman's work, but the best of it is very impressive indeed, such as 'A Star is Born' and 'Wings'. Ruth Chatterton was a fine actress with a number of great performances, even if there were cases where the performance was better than the film itself. Also wanted to see how 'Frisco Jenny' would portray such a sad event, whether it would be genuinely moving or with good intentions but heavy handed.

Fortunately, 'Frisco Jenny' manages to be the former. For me, this was a great film that is not appreciated enough and criminally underseen. Yes, there are familiar plot elements but most films did in those days. What matters though is what a film does with any familiarities and recognisable conventions, which has varied. 'Frisco Jenny' is always engaging and very powerful without over-sentimentality creeping in, while also providing some entertainment value with the pre-code material. An emotional film done with edge and tact.

Close to 90 years on, 'Frisco Jenny' still looks great. The gowns are beautiful and the photography stylish, but the standout in this regard is the visuals for the earthquake. Truly spectacular and makes for quite harrowing viewing. There are some nice uses of pre-existing songs, lovely songs that fit like a glove. Wellman directs with great confidence throughout and doesn't allow the film to drag or get too sentimental or sugary.

The script has a good deal of edge and also sincerity, there are lines that leaves one in amazement in how much the film gets away with. There are moments of wit and that entertains. The story never felt dull and treats its subject with sensitively and doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewer. Much of it is genuinely poignant and uncompromising, and it does a fine job depicting the horrors of the earthquake, the amount of devastation it caused and how it affected people.

Chatterton's performance is often a powerhouse as a very strong character, full of gusto yet not overacted and also moving. The rest of the cast are very good, with sympathetic performances from Louis Calhern and Helen Jerome Eddy.

Summing up, powerful film that is underseen, undeservedly so. 9/10

At this writing, Ruth Chatterton has been gone nearly 50 years but, as someone else here wrote, she deserves to be rediscovered.

She gives a marvelous performance in this gritty down-to-earth film that offers several lessons: Wild Bill Wellman was a great director; Ruth Chatterton was a superb actress, a woman of a different appeal than the fluffier types; vices ought not to be made crimes.

Nearly all of the problems suffered by the characters in "Frisco Jenny" would not have been there if the rowdy Barbary Coast character of San Francisco had not been changed by the blue-noses.

"Nearly all" because the terrible earthquake of 1906 wreaked its own havoc, and I believe "Frisco Jenny" presents the best motion picture version of that particular killer. Some of the footage must have been from newsreels taken at the time. Spectacular and horrifying.

Yes, some of the premises of "Frisco Jenny" had been used before and have been since, but that in no way detracts from the drama and heartbreak presented here.

There is a superlative cast, including such greats as Harold Huber and Louis Calhern in a great and mostly sympathetic role.

Two wonderful actresses don't get screen credit, but will always live in my heart: Dorothy Granger and Gertrude Astor; and Wild Bill himself also has an uncredited bit, as does Syd Saylor who is more readily identifiable.

And listen for the legendary Clarence Muse.

This is one you ought to see.