Frisco Jenny

I love William Wellman's films. Frisco Jenny is a beautifully sad film played brilliantly by Ruth Chatterton. I'm gonna keep this review short and sweet. Give it a watch. It will keep you enthralled until the end.

Ruth Chatterton was a fascinating early '30s leading lady - she was quite average looking and somewhat chubby, with a brittle, theatrical acting style that hasn't dated very well. And yet, there's something in every one of her performances that's worth watching. She specialized in hard-edged, independent women of the type that Bette Davis would later do with much more depth and sympathy. "Frisco Jenny" was typical of Chatterton's Warner Brothers vehicles, with a shopworn "women's picture" storyline that gave her plenty of opportunities to grit her teeth and snap off at characters who got in her way. Nice direction by William Wellman, with a well-placed earthquake to add

Give the great Ruth Chatterton credit for continuing to play leading roles in films into her forties. It's easier to do that today but back then, with Joan Crawford not even being walked to her car when she left MGM at 40, it wasn't so easy.

People always say, well, that's not true, those actresses worked. Really? Did they work like Harrison Ford works today? Clint Eastwood? Or were they playing character parts that weren't leads and starring in B, black and white movies?

Chatterton here stars in "Frisco Jenny" from 1932. After the San Francisco earthquake, she and her baby are left destitute. She becomes the boss of a thinly-disguised bordello and rakes it in.

During a soirée one night, her friend and partner Steve (Louis Calhern) catches someone cheating him at craps and kills him. Jenny helps him cover it up and winds up in prison. He bails her out.

Hearing social services is going to take the baby, Jenny's housekeeper takes her to her family in Chinatown. Steve advises her to let the child live with friends of his who have money and will be good parents. She relents.

When the heat cools off, a few years later, she decides to take her son and move to Europe. But when she meets him again, he doesn't know her and wants to stay with his parents. She can't bear to take him and make him miserable, so she gives him up.

She carefully monitors his growing up, and even is an unseen hand in helping him. Years later, their paths cross again.

Ruth Chatterton is excellent as Jenny, a strong, loyal woman who is unapologetic about what she has to do to survive. Former matinée idol Louis Calhern gives a polished performance as Steve. Donald Cook plays her grown-up son.

Similar in many respects to Madame X. Directed by William Wellman, who gives the film extra flair.

A great film in which to see Ruth Chatterton.

This is an excellent early film by Wellman, filled with all sorts of lovely detail and efficient film-making. The opening tracking shot through the swinging doors of the whorehouse sets the key note for what will be a pretty stylish little film. The opening scenes in the house are musical and full of bustle, rich in their suggestion of off screen space.

The film is chock full of little musical touches that lend it rhythm and style, like the scene in which Chatteron finds out about her lover's death--Wellman finishes it with a sweet rendition, by nearby musicians, of "My Gal Sal", a very effective and surprising bit of counterpoint. And look at the interesting way he has of presenting all the observers of Chatterton's trial, in a series of little pan shots from one to the the other, each shot tied to the rhythm of Donald Cook's speech. You get the sense that Wellman's creative energy was really flowing here.

Chatterton is always good but particularly so here. Orry-Kelly's gowns really suit her and cinematographer Sid Hickock films her and the gowns well. There are a few frames here worthy of MGM. In her final scene, Wellman strips her of all make-up, a pretty unusual approach for the time, but typical of Wellman, who took pride in deglamorizing his actresses when the film called for it. It was a pretty brave scene for Chatterton. She and Wellman were both difficult to work with but liked each other, oddly enough.

Lots of fun character bits. Donald Cook (resident Warner Brothers good guy) is better than usual. James Murray, from King Vidor's "The Crowd" has an early role as the father of Chatterton's child. I like Harry Holman as the john whose pocket gets picked and Wellman regular Nick Copeland as the drunk in the bar.

This is an underrated film. I made a point of seeing it because Wellman, himself, who could be hard on himself, liked it a lot. He was right--it's top notch.

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.