User Reviews

Supposedly based off a fake novel 'We're the O'Learys' by Niven Busch; this film was indeed, 20th Century Fox's answer to MGM's disaster hit film 1936's 'San Francisco'. It really did seem to copy, nearly everything from director Woody Van Dyke's movie, from musical dance numbers, love story between a criminal and a singer, political and criminal enterprises sub-plot and a fiery full climax. It even took, the whole idea of singing a song, by the waterside, while watching the city burn, motif. It's nearly a carbon copy. While, this movie was highly successful in its own right, with a Best Picture Oscar nominee, it's not really historic accuracy at all, as well. Directed by Henry King, the film tells the fictionalized account about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 with the O'Leary family. First off, there is the urban legend spread by the Chicago Tribune newspaper about Mrs. O'Leary's cow starting the brazing fire that burn the city. In truth, it's highly doubtful that the cow set off the fire, due to the fact that the real Mrs. O'Leary was asleep when it started. Also, there is the fact that Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Ahern admitted to reporters, that the original report about a cow kicking off a lantern was false. Most likely, it was related to other wildfires in the Midwest that day due to drought and cause by poor city building techniques, such as wooden shingle roofs having topped with highly flammable tar. Anyways, although Mrs. O'Leary was never officially charged with starting the fire, the story became so engrained in local lore that Chicago's city council officially exonerated her—and the cow—in 1997. However, this later pardon didn't help her at the time, as Anti-Irish attitudes was growing, encouraging many Chicagoans to use the O'Learys as scapegoats. They became one of the most hatred families in America, for a very long time. While, this part of the story isn't the movie's fault, it doesn't help that the movie push the idea that the O'Leary accidentally did it, when the writers: Niven Busch, Sonya Levien, and Lamar Trotti truly knew, that they didn't, even for 1940's historical research standards. The portrayal of the real-life O'Leary family is largely fictitious here, down to the names of the characters being change to fit more with the Busch's novel. I really couldn't get, behind, the idea, that the real-life poor family was now rich, with Mrs. Catherine O'Leary became highly successful, laundry owner, Molly O'Leary (Alice Brady) with two high class boys, Dion (Tyrone Power), a local club owner, and Jack (Don Ameche) who ends up, being the Mayor of Chicago and a third son, Bob (Tom Brown) who really didn't add much to the story. Its stretch too far away from history. In truth, the O'Learys had two children, one son, James Patrick and one daughter, Anna. While, Dion is very similar to the notorious gangster, real-life James Patrick O'Leary; James didn't start running gambling saloons until the late 1890. Also, none of the O'Learys, ever ran for mayor as, the real-life, Chicago mayor at the time, was Roswell B. Mason. Despite that, I think, both Tyrone Power and Don Ameche did alright in their roles, even if Powers was a bit creepy with co-star, Alice Faye as Belle Fawcett. During pre-production, MGM had announced that Jean Harlow, who was under contract to that studio, would be loaned to 20th Century Fox to star in the role Belle Fawcett. However, due to Harlow's untimely death, the part went to Alice Faye. Faye's star power rose as a result of the picture, creating one of the best careers in the Golden Era of Hollywood. She really show that she has the screen-presence, both in the acting and singing. I'm surprise, she wasn't nominated for Best Actress. Well, I think Faye's co-star, Alice Brady did alright with her given role; it's nothing near amazing to the point that she deserve the best actress in a supporting role. It's funny that she never did get it, as Brady wasn't present at the award ceremony, but a man walked up and accepted the award on her behalf. After the show, he and the Oscar were never seen again. Anyways, another problem with this film is the pacing. At close to two hours, (112 minutes) it's one disaster movie that really stretch out. Since then, the 94 minute edition is available for commercial use. Still, the whole beginning scenes were ridiculous. The idea that Mrs. O'Leary's husband, Pat (J. Anthony Hughes) die in the most outrageous way, racing a steam train with a horse in the beginning was horrible. Who thought of that? In truth, he died much, much later due to poor health. I felt the movie spent way too long, exploring the O'Leary's boys' childhoods when it wasn't needed. It really didn't add anything to the rest of the movie. Despite that, the movie does pick up, toward the middle, as the humor, songs, and action kept me, very entertained, even if there is way too many dance numbers to count. Also, the spectacular 20-minute fire sequence in the film's climax (a dangerous sequence filmed on the studio's back lot with 1500 extras and a herd of cattle) was well made, even if the women stunt people were men in drag. At the time of its release, it was one of the most expensive movies ever made. No wonder, why other films like 1948's 'Call Northside 777' & 1976's 'Time Travelers' reused footage from the ending, here to save money. . Yet, I really didn't like the ending. It was sadly, way too cheerily and cheesy. Overall: This Windy City story kinda blows. It's not the worst historical disaster movie, I saw. Yet, it will never be, one of my favorites. In Old Chicago kinda does fizzles off.

Henry King's "In Old Chicago" (1937) derives its appeal from a decade where opulence and melodrama served as ample background fodder for some great saga of tragedy in the human experience. On this occasion, that disaster is the great fire that leveled the city of Chicago in 1871 thanks, so history relates, to one Mrs. O'Leary and her temperamental cow. But before Bossy rekindles the spark that turns into a blaze of epic proportions we get the inevitable back story. The O'Leary's have come to Chicago to stake their fortunes in the big city. But even before arriving a bad omen strikes with the death of patriarch, Patrick O'Leary (J. Anthony Hughes) who is dragged behind a carriage by wild horses. Under matriarchal guidance a patchwork quilt of young love, randy obsession and sibling rivalry emerges between brothers, Dion (Tyrone Powers) and Jack (Don Ameche). Jack has aspirations for the mayoral seat of power. Dion has eyes for a saloon singer; the lusty whisky-voiced chanteuse, Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye). A contrivance in which Jack's political ambitions are nearly destroyed by the accidental complicity of Dion and the jealous muckraking of one Gil Warren (Brian Donlevy) are basically what fuel this treacle to its inevitable, if lavishly staged conclusion; a grand spectacle of all consuming flames chasing the populous of Chicago into the sea from whence salvation and a reprieve of immorality will ultimately emerge. King's direction is solid, and he is blessed on this occasion with three stars (Power, Ameche and Faye) who genuinely give it their all. The sets and costumes attain a level of period perfection that is two thirds historical and one part Hollywood grandeur.

Fox has done a thorough research job on this Studio Series title. We get both the theatrical version and the original limited engagement 'road show' edition that is a bit longer and fleshes out more of the plot and character development. For purists it's the 'road show' all the way. However, image quality on both versions is not exactly up to snuff. The chief complaint this reviewer has is that there is a generally poor level of contrast to the print that is overall much too dark. Whites are rarely clean and most of the tonal quality leads more toward murky black than variations of gray. Film grain is present throughout, however, for a film of this vintage it seems – at least for the most part – to be at, if not acceptable, then passable levels. The audio is Mono as it should be and is fairly represented. There are a few minor instances of pops and hiss but nothing that will distract. Extras include a Biography Special on Don Ameche, audio commentary and theatrical trailers for this and other Fox Studio Line titles.

In 1936, MGM made the huge and impressive "San Francisco". It starred Clark Gable and the singing sensation, Jeanette MacDonald and ended with an amazing earthquake sequence that brought down the crooked empire that Gable had spent the movie amassing. Here, in a totally different(?) film done just a year later, starring Tyrone Power (a prettier version of Clark Gable) and the singing sensation, Alice Faye and ending with an amazing fire sequence that brought down the crooked empire that Power and Brian Donlevy had spent the move amassing. In other words, this 20th Century-Fox film was essentially a knockoff of the original MGM film--and they barely disguised this by only waiting one year. The only major difference was that IN OLD CHICAGO is based on really, really bad history, as the whole "Mrs. O'Leary's cow" incident is complete hooey--as this never happened. Still, if you don't mind that it's a knockoff and you don't mind that it's a terrible history lesson, the film is moderately entertaining. Overall, a watchable time-passer and obvious knockoff.

With an intriguing subject and a talented cast (Don Ameche, Alice Faye, Alice Brady, Tyrone Power) and director (Henry King), 'In Old Chicago' immediately sparked my interest (regarding watching it) and had a lot going for it.

Having seen it, 'In Old Chicago' is a little disappointing and more left me relatively lukewarm rather than properly ignited. However, there is more than enough to make it worth a view, even if urges for re-watching are slim. It has often been compared to 'San Fracisco', and often unfavourably, there are similarities between the two and while it is understandable (and agreed) that 'In Old Chicago' is the inferior film of the two there is still enough to make it watchable at least once.

'In Old Chicago' looks great, with the cinematography being handsomely mounted but with enough grit to not make it over-glossy and also with elegant but atmospheric costume and set design. For the time and for now as well, the special effects in the final twenty minutes detailing the famous fire disaster are staggeringly good. The music score is energetic and vibrant enough, with luscious orchestration, while also with an atmosphere that stops it from sounding too melodramatic or too chirpy. The songs, while not classics as such, are pleasant enough, a few of them (such as the title song) sung beautifully by Alice Faye.

King directs with a meticulous eye for detail, great urgency and tension in the final twenty minutes and good direction of the actors, even if he doesn't quite succeed as well with the script and overall momentum of the story. The final twenty minutes are utterly riveting, and by far 'In Old Chicago's' dramatic highlight, with boundless tension, urgency and with visuals that give the full impact of the disaster rather than being too small scale due to budget hindrances or something.

The cast is a good one and perform well. Alice Brady shows a different side to her, and brings sincerity and authority to her mother figure role. Ameche is likable and charming, while Power shows that he was more than an actor with just good looks in a performance that has handsome suavity and reckless charisma. His fight with Ameche is well handled. Andy Devine and Brian Donlevy are strong in support. Faye sings beautifully and is lovely enough but doesn't have very much to do in a somewhat underwritten role.

On the other hand, 'In Old Chicago' does drag and meander quite badly in spots, with the main plot-line having its fair share of leaden melodrama and there is a lot of overlong scene-setting that could have been shortened or completely cut. There are also subplots that either don't go anywhere much, or are wrapped up too quickly or neatly.

The script has the odd heartfelt and thought-provoking moment, but much of it is laid on too thick with syrup and sugar in the melodramatic parts while the grittier subjects that it tries to tackle later on (which would have made for a more interesting film if handled a little better) were either handled too heavy-handedly or too safely, which did on each side diminish any conflict. Tonally, with trying to have more than one element, it does feel confused and unfocused at times.

All in all, crackles in the final twenty minutes but apart from enough to keep one watching was somewhat of a lukewarm experience on the whole. Not a bad film, a long way from, just was expecting more. 6/10 Bethany Cox.

People talk about the strengths of Golden Age cinema, and I believe in them, too, but watching "In Old Chicago" is to be reminded of the weaknesses:

Thin characterizations. Overtly posed close-ups. Clichéd dialogue. Strained humor. Implausible romances. Improbable coincidences.

It's all there in this early disaster movie, which depending on the version you see is either 100 minutes or 70 minutes of windy exposition followed by 25 minutes of fiery, building-crushing spectacle when the Great Fire of 1871 roars through Chi-town, courtesy of Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

Alice Brady won an Oscar playing the legendary Mrs. O'Leary, though her solid performance only looks stellar compared to the rest of the cast. History tells us it wasn't her cow that caused the fire, yet this cinematic retelling has Mrs. O at the heart of everything having to do with old Chicago, with one son (Don Ameche) an earnest reformer and another (Tyrone Power) the corrupt power behind the throne. Their father died foreseeing a time when the O'Learys would "put their mark" on the city, and this they do, even before they burn it to cinders.

The two O'Leary boys have this habit of coming to blows often but then reuniting very earnestly, facing the camera with happy smiles and declarations of sudden unity.

As they often say in this movie: "We O'Learys are a strange tribe." "Strange" doesn't cover it.

Power's character, Dion O'Leary, falls hard for saloon singer Belle Fawcett, whose job gives Alice Faye plenty of excuses for dressing up and delivering a series of hokey musical numbers. Dion pleads his case with Belle by wrestling her to the floor and ignoring her pleas to let him go until she returns his kisses passionately. Being he's Tyrone Power, this might even work. But could anyone get away with lines like his "We've fought, and maybe we'll go on fighting, but we'll do it – together!"

Power does get credited for shedding his pretty-boy persona later in his career with harrowing war service and some tougher parts, but here he's all dimple-cheeked smiles and goo-goo eyes. Even when the script has him backstabbing nominal villain Brian Donlevy (really not that bad a guy compared to Dion through most of the film, though presented here as someone to root against only because he's played by Donlevy), Power can't muster up enough gas to make his skullduggery convincing.

There's a tonal problem with the film. Director Henry King seems split between whether to make "In Old Chicago" a drama, a comedy, or a musical, so he tries for a bit of each, sometimes in tandem. The result is odd bits of pathos like Father O'Leary's death crammed up next to a scene where a fat woman is dropped in a mud puddle. Only in the last 20 minutes, when it becomes a full-fledged disaster film, does it find focus, and then only as spectacle with powerful scenics, like people walking on rooftops dwarfed by the fires raging behind them, or buildings raining masonry on the heads of fleeing victims.

The focus on the O'Learys remains, however, as tired and improbable as ever, with Brady and Power left to deliver some final lines to the camera about Chicago emerging stronger and better from this disaster. It's all such hooey you almost wish for a lingering piece of masonry to tumble down upon them. But then someone would have to make still another speech about how they didn't die in vain, and then "In Old Chicago" would never end.

I see the original version of the film is 115 minutes and the version on FOX Movie Channel is 95 minutes. So twenty minutes are lost. I presume this was done on a re-release so the film would fit better in a double bill. This is quite common and a shame. I hope a film restorer is looking for the lost footage to add back so film buffs can see the original. This was done with 'For Whom the Bells Tolls'. 'In Old Chicago' is an important film and deserves the same.

Secondly, I think the maid Hattie is quite hilarious. I thought her remarks were very subtle and cleaver. I wonder if she was improvising? If so, it added a lot to the film.

**SPOILERS** The city of Chicago get's the grand treatment here in this 1937 20th Century Fox production. After going on and on with a boring and uninteresting love story between handsome and wisecracking Dion O'Leary,Tyrone Powes, and beautiful stage singer and dancer Belle Fawcett, Alice Faye it really takes off with a bang or flame. This happens when Dion's older brother Jack, Don Ameche, is persuaded to run for mayor against the corrupt Gil Warren, Brian Dunlevy, political machine.

Getting elected mayor with the help, which he didn't know about, of his brother Dion Jack O'Leary is now determined to condemn the Colney Patch District thats the center of Warrens political power in the city. The four square mile Patch District is not only riddled with political corruption but is a tinder box of wooden houses and shacks, a shantytown for the many new Irish immigrants in the city, thats in danger of going up in flames at the striking of a match.

Jack in a convoluted effort to get the goods on Warren & Co. plans to use his own brother Dion, who in fact got him elected, to testify not only against Warren but himself with the help of his girlfriend Faye. Who as a chorus girl worked for both men who run nightclubs in the Patch. This illogical plan on Jack's part falls flat on it's face when he's tricked, by being mayor of the city, by Dion to marry him and Faye without knowing that a wife can't testify against her husband. Throwing Jacks entire plan of getting the corrupt political kingpin Gil Warren, through his brother Dion, right in the garbage can!

Outraged at being tricked by Dion into making a complete fool of himself jack slugs it out with his brother only to later have his and Dion's mom Mrs. O'Leary ,Alice Brady, leave her prized cow Daisey, whom she was milking, alone by herself in the barn. It's then that Daisey kicks over a lantern that in effect, according to legend, started the Great Chicago Fire of October 8-10, 1871 that destroyed almost a quarter of the city.

Only worth watching for the amazing state-of-the-art Hollywood special effects, for the late 1930's, in showing the devastating Chicago Fire. With the Warren Mob, thinking that it was started by the mayor himself, rustling up a lynch mob to string Mayor Jack O'Leary up. With the fire quickly getting out of control the Warren hoodlums, lead by the future Creeper & Brute Man Rondo Hatton,are caught flat footed as the whole Patch District is blown to pieces. On orders of Gen. Sheridan,Sidney Blackmar, with hundreds of sticks of dynamite in order to put the fire out. Warren who instead of trying to put out the fire tried to start a new one by inciting a riot and is later trampled to death by hundreds of steers who escaped from the burning Chicago stockyards.

The grand final has thousands of people from in and around the Patch district scurrying out of their homes in order to save their lives by escaping into the only avenue opened to them left by the great fire the shore and waters of Lake Michigan. The one barrier, natural or man-made, that the flames couldn't penetrate. Despite the great cast with an strikingly handsome Tyrone Powers who looked even better, if thats possible, after he got his brains beat in. There's also the gorgeous Alice Faye as well as the wonderful acting of Alice Brady. Who won an Academy Award for her role as Mrs. Molly O'Leary. Still the actors and actresses had to take second place to the special effects of Great Chicago Fire thats as heart-wrenching and exciting now as it was back then 70 years ago.

Along with "San Francisco" this is one of the first Hollywood "disaster" movies, establishing the genre where we get drawn into the characters lives for the first half-to three quarters of the film, and then watch the place explode/sink/burn in the final quarter. This Fox relic is actually pretty good, because it doesn't run too long, and director Henry King handles the personal drama as well as he does the Chicago Fire of 1871. Tyrone Power and Don Ameche are unlikely as Irish brothers, but are pleasant all the same as the likable rogue of the O'Leary clan (Power) and the idealist (Ameche). Power, along with his sweetheart showgirl Alice Faye, is making a monza from his saloon in the rough area of Chicago, but mayor Ameche wants it cleaned up. Cue human drama and political conflict, as well as romantic complications, as the smooth Power is willing to use Faye to his advantage in getting a better deal for himself. Faye was made a big star by this film but I don't really understand her appeal. She's not very attractive and her singing voice sounds strange. Alice Brady won Best Supporting Actress as Ma O'Leary and she's good, but the part isn't exactly challenging. Fox costume films never looked quite as sumptuous as MGM productions did in this period, due to budget constraints, but this one does a good job in capturing the feel of the era, even if most of the story is complete fiction

Many people are more familiar with Gone with the Wind than this movie when it came out 1 year earlier. From seeing this movie, I noticed certain common traits that both movie share. The epic Chicago fire of 1870 is shot on a very large scale with a cast of thousands. It rivals the burning of Atlanta from Gone with the Wind. The movie has a black woman worker for the main female lead in the film similar to Gone with the Wind. And the movie has probably the strongest speech at the end of the movie (by the O'Leary's mother character) that rivals the ending speech from Gone with the Wind. The movie concerns the O'Leary family who move to Chicago in search of new opportunities. A single mother and her three sons live and grow up in the city. One of the sons (Tyrone Power) meets and falls in love with Alice Faye. The plot and storyline of the movie is somewhat weak and could have used some revision to make the movie better. The movie's strong points are the shots of the Chicago streets, the staging of the Great Fire, and the large cow stampede scenes. This is one of the earlier disaster movie themes that took quite a lot of cast members and staging in order to execute the overall disaster event.