''Old San Francisco'' is a 1927 American silent

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

starring

Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903Costello's obituary in ''The New York Times'' says that she was born on September 17, 1905. – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ...

and featuring

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

. The film, which was produced and distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, was directed by

Alan Crosland Alan Crosland (August 10, 1894 – July 16, 1936) was an American stage actor and film director. He is noted for having directed the first feature film using spoken dialogue, '' The Jazz Singer'' (1927). Early life and career Born in New York C ...

Plot

Chris Buckwell, cruel and greedy czar of San Francisco's Tenderloin District, is heartless in his persecution of the Chinese, though he himself is secretly a

half-caste Half-caste (an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures) is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent. It is derived from the term '' caste'', which comes from the Latin ''castus'', meaning p ...

, part Chinese and part European. Buckwell, eager to possess the land of Don Hernández Vásquez, sends Michael Brandon, an unscrupulous attorney, to make an offer. Brandon's nephew, Terrence, meets the grandee's beautiful daughter, Dolores, while Vásquez refuses the offer. Terry tries to save the Vásquez land grants, but when Chris causes the grandee's death, Dolores takes an oath to avenge her father. Learning that Chris is half Chinese, Dolores induces his feeble-minded dwarf brother to denounce him; he captures her and Terry, but they are saved from white slavery by the great earthquake of 1906 that kills the villain.

Cast

as Dolores Vasquez *

as Chris Buckwell * Charles E. Mack as Terrence "Terry" O'Shaughnessy * Josef Swickard as Don Hernandez de Vasquez * Anders Randolph as Michael Brandon * Angelo Rossita as Chang Loo, a dwarf *

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

as A Flower of the Orient *

Lawson Butt W. Lawson Butt (4 March 1880 – 14 January 1956) was a British actor and film director of the silent era.(7 August 1915)W. Lawson Butt with Kleine ''The Moving Picture World'' Selected filmography Actor * '' The Woman Next Door'' (1915) * ''Ro ...

as Captain Enrique de Solano Y Vasquez ''(in Prologue)'' *

Walter McGrail Walter B. McGrail (October 19, 1888 – March 19, 1970) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1916 and 1951. Besides feature films, he appeared in ''The Scarlet Runner'', a 12-chapter serial. McGrail was born in ...

as Vasquez's grandson, who gets shot ''(in Prologue)'' *

Otto Matieson Otto Matieson (27 March 1893 – 19 February 1932) was a Danish actor of the silent era. He appeared in 45 films between 1920 and 1931. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and died in a car accident in Safford, Arizona. Filmography * '' ...

as another Vasquez grandson ''(in Prologue)'' *

Martha Mattox Martha Mattox (June 19, 1879 – May 2, 1933) was an American silent film actress most notable for her role of Mammy Pleasant in the 1927 film '' The Cat and the Canary''. She also played a role in ''Torrent'' (1926). She died from a heart ...

as Mother Vasquez ''(in Prologue)'' *

Thomas Santschi Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

as Captain Stoner ''(in Prologue)'' *

Louise Carver Louise Carver (June 9, 1869 - June 19, 1956) was an American actress who performed in grand opera, stage, nickelodeon, and motion pictures. Early years and career Born Mary Louise Steiger in Davenport, Iowa, she was the daughter of Mr. and Mr ...

as Big nosed woman on the Mile of Hell ''(uncredited)'' *

Rose Dione Claudine Rosalie Gras (1 January 1877 – 1 January 1936), professionally known as Rose Dione, was a French-American actress who appeared in numerous silent era and pre-code films. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1910 and 1 ...

as Madame in Den of Iniquity ''(uncredited)'' *

Willie Fung Willie Fung (3 March 1896 – 16 April 1945) was a Chinese-American film actor who played supporting roles in 125 American films between 1922 and 1944. Like many Chinese actors working in Hollywood during the era, he often played Japanese charac ...

as Chang Sue Lee's laughing servant ''(uncredited)'' * Tom McGuire as Man at poodle dog cafe ''(uncredited)'' *

John Miljan John Miljan (November 9, 1892 – January 24, 1960) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1924 and 1958. Biography Born in 1892, Miljan was the tall, smooth-talking villain in Hollywood films for almost four deca ...

as Don Luis ''(uncredited)'' * Sōjin Kamiyama as Lu Fong ''(uncredited)''

Production

The film was released in a silent version and in a

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

version, with

sound-on-disc Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent syste ...

recording of music and sound effects only. It was the fifth Warner Brothers

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

to have Vitaphone musical accompaniment. Just one month later, on October 6, Warner Bros. released ''

The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolate ...

'' with music, sound effects, and spoken dialogue. Warner Bros. later reused some of the footage from ''Old San Francisco'' for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake sequence in '' The Sisters'' (1938). This is

Charles Emmett Mack Charles Emmett Mack (November 25, 1900 – March 17, 1927), was an American film actor during the silent film era. He appeared in 17 films between 1916 and 1927. Biography Born Charles Emmett McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to an Irish f ...

's final film appearance; he was killed in an automobile accident six months prior to the film's release.

Reception and box office

The film was a commercial success but it was considered a sub-par feature for its salacious elements. The ''New York Post'' called it "violently melodramatic and preposterous in the extreme -- and one of the silliest pictures ever made." A slightly later reviewer wondered cynically why it had not been censored: "Just as the villain is giving thanks to Buddha, the San Francisco earthquake intervenes to save olores and Terry thus explaining a catastrophe that cost many lives. ''Old San Francisco'' was not censored because it satisfied the one great tenet of the movie censors: 'God is a force in the world that moves to preserve Christian virginity.' " According to Warner Bros records the film earned $466,000 domestically and $172,000 foreign.

Preservation status

A print of the film still exists at the Library of Congress, George Eastman House and

Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR) is a major archive of motion picture, television, radio, and theater research materials. Located in the headquarters building of the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, the ...

, as well as its Vitaphone soundtrack and has been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in association with other organizations such as the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art. And was released on manufactured-on-demand

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

by the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

series on September 15, 2009.Steffens, Jame
"Old San Francisco" (article)

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

References

External links

* * *
Anna May Wong, Warner Oland & Dolores Costello in a scene from the film
{{Authority control 1927 films 1920s historical drama films American historical drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake Films directed by Alan Crosland Films set in San Francisco Transitional sound films Warner Bros. films Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck 1927 drama films Surviving American silent films 1920s American films Silent American drama films 1920s English-language films