In San Francisco, a villainous land owner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.In San Francisco, a villainous land owner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.In San Francisco, a villainous land owner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.
Anders Randolf
- Michael Brandon
- (as Anders Randolph)
Charles Emmett Mack
- Terrence O'Shaughnessy
- (as Chas. E. Mack)
Angelo Rossitto
- Chang Loo - the Dwarf
- (as Angelo Rossita)
Louise Carver
- Big-nosed Woman on the Mile of Hell
- (uncredited)
Rose Dione
- Madame in Den of Iniquity
- (uncredited)
Willie Fung
- Chang Sue Lee's Laughing Servant
- (uncredited)
Sôjin Kamiyama
- Lu Fong
- (uncredited)
Andy MacLennan
- Man at Lu Fongs Place
- (uncredited)
Scotty Mattraw
- Coach Driver
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original credits include a music score, conductor, and orchestra. The Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra played the first-run performance live in New York, but subsequent showings provided a Vitaphone musical accompaniment, and the credit was also in printed programs distributed to the audience.
- Quotes
Terrence O'Shaughnessy: Please, Senorita - I am not bold - I'm Irish.
- Alternate versionsThe print in the Turner library is a UCLA preservation print containing music and sound effects.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Sisters (1938)
Featured review
Decent
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.
** 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.
helpful•41
- Michael_Elliott
- Jun 15, 2008
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $300,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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