The great, bustling city by the bay is shown in actual newsreel footage, a thriving metropolis of streetcars, horse and carriage, crowded neighborhoods of poor wooden houses, the Chinatown area, the opera house, the capitol, the railroad station, etc., all while people go about their daily business on the streets of San Francisco.
Interesting to note how the cars or buggies wove right around and across tracks carrying moving streetcars, as though there was no real traffic system to stop the ever moving flow of traffic. Also interesting to note the rather stiff fashions of 1906 which look far too overdressed and uptight for today's viewers.
Then, after twenty minutes or so of pleasant everyday scenes, the tone changes to show the city immediately after and during the quake, with crumbling buildings making it look like a war zone and fires beginning to rage within the city which had no way to douse the flames since all the water mains were broken. Helplessly, firemen and policemen and citizens stood by and watched while the whole city was reduced to a pile of rubble.
Fascinating to see how plucky the citizens were and in a short time were bent on rebuilding the entire city. At the finale, we see the preparations for the 1915 World's Fair which managed to be, as one old timer said, "The only thing I can say--magnificent". Scenes from the fair show it at night, all lit up and indeed looking magical after all that devastation.
Good segment in the "American Experience" tradition.