"In Old Chicago" (1937, directed by Henry King) is a highly imaginative movie about the sons (Don Ameche, Tyrone Power as Dion and Jack) of the Mrs. O'Leary (Alice Brady) whose cow started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It was the Fox Studio answer to MGM's (1936) saloon-centered "San Francisco," with Alice Faye playing the Jeanette MacDonald, Tyrone Power the Clark Gable one, and Don Ameche a variant of the Spencer Tracy one. Plus the Irish mother (Brady in an inexplicably Oscar-winning performance).

The brothers are remarkably naive about each other, especially in that one (Ameche) in a reforming politician and the other (Power) is a vice lord and major player in the game of official graft that Dion is dedicated to cleaning up. As much as I like Power's Zorro, I think that when he was unscrupulous (as in "Nightmare Alley") he was more interesting than when he was being noble (or even a proto saint, as in "The Razor's Edge"). I'm underwhelmed by Alice Faye's musical numbers, but her character as a savvy businesswoman who can hold her own with the devious, maniulative Power character is far more interesting than MacDonald's sweetness and light. (And, BTW, among the nominees for best supporting actress that year, I'd have voted for Dame May Whitty for her performance in "Night Must Fall.").

Unlike in many 1930s movies, the cataclysm (fire) "In Old Chicago" does not have additional pumping-up of terror and pathos from its musical score (with no composer credited, the score was still nominated for an Oscar for musical score, and, more understandably for best sound recording). The Oscar-winning special effects are less hokey than the plot and characters. OK, they are better than "less hokey." The fire is more frightening than the burning of Atlanta in "Gone with the Wind."

The fire and aftermath are the best part of the movie. The opening disaster in which the father dies (because of foolish bravado) is hokey in the extreme concluding with an awesomely banal inspirational speech about the great future of Chicago as he lays dying. The start of Mrs. O'Leary's career as a laundress is also very hokey, but does introduce the viewer to the Chicago women of "loose virtue" (the Production Code presented explicitly labeling or showing them to be prostitutes).

The political wheeling and dealing and shady business dealings are well portrayed, with Brian Donleavy at home in the corrupt milieu (as in "The Great McGinty", "The Glass Key", "Barbary Coast," etc.).

The DVD includes the 96-minute and the 110-minute ("road show") cuts of the movie, plus an A&E biography of Ameche plus four vintage Fox Movietone documentaries relating to the movie.

Henry King went on to direct "The Song of Bernadette" and many Gregory Peck movies (most notably "Twelve O'clock High" and "The Gunfigher", but also "David and Bathsheba," "The Snows of Kilminjaro").
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This is a contribution to Sleeper54's fourth lean&mean writeoff. BTW, the leaner version of "In Old Chicago" cut nothing of importance and still has a lot of plot,. Moreover, I could cut another 10 minutes of Faye songs (I'd leave her dancing scenes).



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12