Frisco Jenny (1932)

Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of a prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to prominence as district ... See full summary »

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Wilson Mizner (screenplay), Robert Lord (screenplay),

Stars:

Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ruth Chatterton	...	Frisco Jenny Sandoval
Louis Calhern	...	Steve Dutton
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Amah
Donald Cook	...	Dan Reynolds
James Murray	...	Dan McAllister
Hallam Cooley	...	Willie Gleason
Pat O'Malley	...	Policeman Pat O'Hoolihan
Harold Huber	...	George Weaver
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Jim Sandoval
Willard Robertson	...	Police Capt. Tom

Storyline

Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of a prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to prominence as district attorney dedicated to closing down such houses. When her underling Dutton proposes telling the DA that Frisco Jenny is his birth mother, she kills the underling not to cause trouble for her son now the successful DA, she must face execution.

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Plot Keywords:

district attorney | earthquake | female crime boss | vice | pre code | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Common Ground

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$286,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min 71 min (Turner library print length)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William A. Wellman:  a newspaper reporter phoning in a scoop.

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Goofs

After the coroner tells the photographer to take a picture of a recently murdered man who died with his eyes open, the actor playing the dead man visibly blinks twice.

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Quotes

Miss Tessie: Business was very gratifying this month.
Frisco Jenny Sandoval: Conventions always help.

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Connections

Featured in Complicated Women (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny"
(uncredited)
Written by James Allen Bland (1878)
Sung in the tent camp after the earthquake

User Reviews

A lot to recommend here

TCM's print of Frisco Jenny benefits from being in near pristine condition, and luckily the film itself is pretty good, too. Director William Wellman never settles for static shots, relying on almost constant camera movement to keep the story moving and culminating in a cleverly shot (though somewhat gimmicky) courtroom sequence. Ruth Chatterton looks somewhat younger than in most of her features but by film's end she's reverted to her more natural (and to my mind, more attractive) look. It's unfortunate that a Caucasian actress who specialised in ethnic roles, Helen Jerome Eddy, was cast in the important role of Amah, Chatterton's Chinese housekeeper and confidante, but that shouldn't be taken as criticism of Eddy's performance, which is quite fine. Throw in a decent recreation of the great quake of 1906, and you have an entertaining and ultimately very moving household drama that doesn't pull its punches.