In Old Chicago

This was the first of three films that teamed Tyrone Power and Alice Faye, the others being Alexander's Ragtime Band and Rose of Washington Square. In Old Chicago and Alexander's Ragtime Band also had Don Ameche in it. And it set a pattern, no way was Ameche going to get Faye when Power was on the scene.

Ty Power's roles in his Fox days fell in two Categories. He was either the total romantic hero or he was a hero/heel. In In Old Chicago he's the latter although Power usually has the heroic side win out in these parts, he's not above a little scheming. Power's Dion O"Leary both double crosses Brian Donlevy and marries Alice Faye not just because he loves her, but so she can't testify against him. But Ty's always a charming likable cuss and Ameche is always the straight arrow, but slightly dull rival and in this case, brother.

However the film is known for two things. It gave Alice Faye her first real notice as actress. Up to this point, she'd been a Jean Harlow wannabe right down to the platinum blonde hair. Here Faye gets those period costumes that she wore so well. It was the first of many successes in that genre.

The second thing is the grand special effects showing the burning of Chicago. Even almost 70 years later it's a spectacular sight.

In 1854, the patriarch Patrick O'Leary (J. Anthony Hughes) of the O 'Leary family dies in an accident nearby Chicago while traveling amid-western prairie. His wife Molly O'Leary (Alice Brady) raises her three sons alone working as laundress. Her son Jack (Don Ameche) becomes an idealistic lawyer; Dion (Tyrone Power) is a gambler; and Bob (Tom Brown) helps his mother in the laundry business and marries local Gretchen (June Storey) in the old area known as The Patch. Dion meets the singer Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye) in the cabaret owned by Gil Warren (Brian Donlevy) and they fall in love with each other and become lovers. They also open a business of their own to compete with Gil that becomes their enemy. However Gil invites Dion to join the politics with him but Dion plots a scheme with tragic consequences.

"In Old Chicago" is a film with the fictional dramatization of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The melodramatic and romantic screenplay follows basically the fictional lives of the Irish brothers Jack and Dion. However it seems that the origin of the fire is precise with the O'Leary cow starting the fire in the barn. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Na Velha Chicago" ("In Old Chicago")

The film is delicious in that brassy, over-blown 20th Century Fox way. Among the absurdities is Alice Faye singing "In Old Chicago" in a town that was 35 years old. Yet it's amazing that so much of the actual fire's history is accurately portrayed, such as Mrs. O'Leary's "peg-leg" neighbor who sounded the alarm for the immediate DeKoven St. neighbors. Some of the bigger shots are copied right from lithographs of the period. But then most of the politics is totally fraudulent.

Women extras were not allowed to appear in dangerous situations in '30s Hollywood so watch closely during the street scenes where there are runaway horses and racing fire engines. The "ladies" scrambling around are clearly tall men in Victorian drag. It's a hoot.

Those viewers of a certain age may remember a Sunday evening TV program in the '50s with Walter Kronkite called "You Are There" which put you into historical events. The episode featuring the Chicago Fire cannibalized this Fox film and lifted much of the disaster footage.

There are so many parallels to the previous year's big MGM success "San Francisco" (1936) with Clark Gable and Jeanette McDonald. Here we have Alice Faye also singing in a saloon, a disaster during the night, "dirty politics" with an attempt to clean out the slum zone, little kids in danger during the fire, buildings being dynamited to contain the blaze, the hero searching for days for his lost love among the victims, and so forth.

IN OLD CHICAGO (20th Century-Fox, 1937/38), directed by Henry King, is a prestigious production inspired by MGM's SAN FRANCISCO (1936) climaxed by the earthquake that destroyed the city in 1906, thus, the birth of natural disaster films. Headed by the youthful trio of Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche, all with only a few years into the movie business, it is veteran actress Alice Brady, best known for her scatterbrained society matrons of numerous comedies, who stands out with her change of pace characterization. Also playing against type is musical star Alice Faye in a rare dramatic performance. With her name on the marquee, one would assumed this to be a turn-of-the-century Technicolor musical. Granted, it's a dramatic story with some doses of comedy and production numbers, but no Technicolor, which would have benefited with its lavish sets and periodic costumes. IN OLD CHICAGO can be best summed up as a fictionalized story of the O'Leary Family, a "strange tribe," and the events leading to the big Chicago fire of 1871.

The story opens with a prologue as the O'Leary's traveling on wagon train bound for new beginnings. After racing alongside a passing train just for the fun of it, Patrick (J. Anthony Hughes) meets with an accident that kills him, leaving his wife, Molly (Alice Brady) to rear her three boys (Gene Reynolds, Billy & Bobs Watson) alone. After burying her husband in the plains, the O'Leary's move on, coming to Chicago where Molly earns money washing laundry and settling her family in the slum area known as "the Patch." Moving forward, Molly's boys grow into handsome young men: Jack (Don Ameche), a crusading attorney who's later elected mayor of Chicago; Bob (Tom Brown), the youngest who earns a living driving the family laundry wagon and marrying Gretchen (June Storey), one of his mother's helpers; and Dion (Tyrone Power), a gambler and saloon keeper whose ambitious ways leads him to corruption. Of Molly's three sons, Dion is her biggest concern. She disapproves of his love for Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye), a cabaret singer ("what a woman!") whose involved with Gil Warren (Brain Donlevy), a corrupt political boss who rivals Dion. Situations become complex after Jack learns how his smooth operating brother got him into office but determined to make good at his job, and Dion's methods in using Belle for his own ambitious ways.

With the story of secondary importance and the Chicago fire the main event, the added attraction of musical numbers featured include: "I've Taken a Fancy to You" (sung by chorus) by Sidney Clare and Lew Pollack; "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (sung by Alice Faye) by James A. Bland; "In Old Chicago" (sung by Faye) by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel; "I'll Never Let You" (sung by Faye); and "Take a Dip in the Sea" (sung by Tyler Brooke).

Theatrically released at close to two hours (112 minutes), IN OLD CHICAGO was a top-grossing film of the day, and it shows. It's popularity lead to a 1943 reissue cut down by twenty minutes. Since then, the 94 minute edition became the one available to commercial and later cable television markets (American Movie Classics and Fox Movie Channel), as well as video cassette in the 1990s, with the missing material believed to be lost and gone forever. Then around 2002, those missing scenes lifted from IN OLD CHICAGO were discovered and restored to now close to its original play length onto DVD in 2005. The restoration consists the O'Leary family gathered together and praying over the father's grave before continuing on their journey to Chicago; a lengthy courtroom sequence of Jack's first case as a lawyer defending a man (Paul Hurst) with a woman (Thelma Manning) on the witness stand who turns out to be his wife, thus having the judge dismissing the case on the grounds that "a wife cannot testify against her husband," followed by Dion introducing Belle to Jack as they exit the courthouse. The DVD package also features the abridged version on the flip side that had been overexposed on television for decades. In the 1950s, IN OLD CHICAGO was televised as the basis of a one hour show "City in Flames" from "20th Century Fox Hour" (1957), an episode that premiered on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002.

Andy Devine, Sidney Blackmer, Phyllis Brooks and Berton Churchill take part in a long list of supporting players. Any similarity between SAN FRANCISCO and IN OLD CHICAGO is purely intentional. The disastrous climax lasts about 20 minutes; the characters of Clark Gable and Tyrone Power are ambitious and loved by singers (Jeanette MacDonald and Alice Faye); both have a third party who takes an interest in the couple (priest Spencer Tracy and brother Don Ameche); and following the natural disaster, both leading men are seen roaming around with a steak of blood down his face. Regardless of similarities, both films became blockbuster hits.

Did Mrs. O'Leary's cow actually start the Chicago fire? One thing for certain, the Chicago disaster of 1871 is as part of American history as the motion picture itself, fact or fiction, being associated with cinema history. Now fully restored, IN OLD CHICAGO can be seen and appreciated in its entirety, thanks to film historians and their effort in putting the missing pieces back together again, and Turner Classic Movies for premiering the movie in its long unseen entirety May 29, 2013. (***1/2)

This is the fictional story of the O'Leary family and the birth of the Great Fire of Chicago.

Big budget, big stars and a completely big production, In Old Chicago may be deemed as a Zanuck cash in on the previous years MGM eye opener, San Francisco, it is however a wonderful picture that features two differing halves of worth. Casting aside historical accuracy (lets really not go down that road in cinema history), this Henry King directed piece firstly engages us as a jaunty family character piece, only to then pull the rug from underneath us to let in political intrigue, deception, down right ugliness and a near $2 million fire besieged Chicago!

Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, Alice Faye, Alice Brady (Best Supporting Actress Academy Award) and Brian Donlevy all line up to entertain the viewers, all possibly aware that they are merely the starter course for the extravagant main course that will be the 20 minute final reel of panic and burning disaster. Yet to focus merely on the fire itself, and the effects that some 70 years later still impact smartly, is to do the first half a disservice, characters are formed and the story is fully fleshed to make the wait for the fire completely worth our time. It's no history lesson for sure but the devilment of some characters, and the ineptitude of some others, more than make this an essential watch for fans of 30s cinema. 7.5/10