Ruth Chatterton stars in a retread of her earlier
Madame X titled Frisco Jenny. In the prologue, Jenny becomes pregnant by a young man who is killed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Bearing her child in secret, Jenny gives up custody to a wealthy couple. The years pass: Through the auspices of a crooked politician (
Louis Calhern), Jenny becomes the Number One "Madame" of San Francisco, with interests in several other illicit activities. Crusading DA
Donald Cook decides to rid the city of Jenny's operations--little suspecting that the notorious woman is actually his own mother! Calhern threatens to blackmail Cook with this information, but Frisco Jenny kills him before he's able to talk...and inevitably, the heart-of-gold prostitute, steadfastly keeping her secret to the last, is sentenced to death by her own flesh and blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide