''The San Francisco Docks'' is a 1940 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Burgess Meredith,

Barry Fitzgerald William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Ba ...

, and

Irene Hervey Irene Hervey (born Beulah Irene Herwick; July 11, 1909December 20, 1998) was an American film, stage, and television actress who appeared in over fifty films and numerous television series spanning her five-decade career. A native of Los Angeles ...

Plot

When his sweetheart, barmaid Kitty Tracy, is annoyed by a customer, longshoreman Johnny Barnes slugs the guy. The man is later found dead. Johnny is tried for murder and convicted. Kitty and a priest, Father Cameron, believe in Johnny's innocence and search for a way to exonerate him. They discover that Monte March, a prisoner who has escaped Alcatraz prison, is the real killer, being helped by wife Frances in fleeing from the law. March is apprehended and Johnny's set free. The movie is noteworthy in that featured a fight scene between two of the actresses, Esther Ralston and

. Both women told director Arthur Lubin that they did not want to have stunt doubles perform the fight scene, described by press accounts as a "... whirlwind fistfight... said to overshadow the most hectic feminine movie battles seen in recent motion pictures." Hervey later described the fight as a "...terrific battle between me and Esther Ralston—with hair-pulling, kicking, the works."

Cast

* Burgess Meredith as Johnny Barnes *

as Kitty Tracy *

as Icky * Robert Armstrong as Father Cameron * Raymond Walburn as Admiral Andy * Esther Ralston as Frances * Edward Pawley as Monte March

Production

In May 1940 Universal announced the film as part of its schedule for the following year. On September 20 the studio said Meredith would star alongside Irene Harvey and Barry Fitzgerald, with Arthur Lubin to direct. The film was shot in eleven days.

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "routine... a lot of melodramatic foolishness."THE SCREEN IN REVIEW New York Times 26 Dec 1940: 23.

References

External links

''The San Francisco Docks''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''The San Francisco Docks''
at TCMDB
San Francisco Docks
at BFI 1940 films Films set in San Francisco 1940 crime drama films American crime drama films Films directed by Arthur Lubin American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{1940s-crime-drama-film-stub