Themes: Rise To Power, Sibling Relationships, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Alice Brady, Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy
Release Year: 1938
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
In Old Chicago was 20th Century-Fox's spin on MGM's San Francisco--a personal saga played out against the backdrop of a famous 19th Century disaster. Alice Brady plays Mrs. O'Leary, a widow who brings her two young boys to the sleepy village of Chicago. As the city grows in prominence and prestige, so do the boys: One son (Tyrone Power) becomes a rascal who dreams of creating his own entertainment empire, while the other son (Don Ameche) matures into an honest, straight-laced lawyer. Both boys woo a beautiful singer (Alice Faye), who favors the more reckless of the two. As the headstrong son gains control of the more disreputable forms of Chicago entertainment, the serious son becomes the city's Mayor. The requisite rivalry between the two reaches a fever pitch just before their mother's cow knocks over a lantern and sets off the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The O'Leary boys unite in trying to fight the conflagration and rescue the populace; the mayor dies, and the wastrel son vows to mend his ways and help build a "new" Chicago. In Old Chicago is climaxed spectacularly by the famous fire, a masterwork of special effects courtesy of 20th Century-Fox's Fred Sersen. The film, which originally ran 115 minutes, is currently available only in its shorter (and better paced) reissue version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Henry King's In Old Chicago is usually thought of as 20th Century Fox's attempt to emulate and outdo MGM's San Francisco, but its origins go back much further than that. The movie actually owes a great deal more, in story and structure, to The Bowery (1931), the first movie that Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures ever released. Both movies build colorful fiction around historical characters and celebrate a boisterous if sometimes dangerous past in ways that pushed the envelope of good taste, even in their own time. In lieu of Wallace Beery and George Raft, we have Tyrone Power and Brian Donlevy as the primary antagonists who, in this case, battle to the near-death of their city. The movie benefits considerably from opulent production values and a solid supporting performance from Alice Faye as a woman who is convincingly vivacious enough to turn the heads of several key male characters; and Alice Brady adding a memorable turn as the well-intended but ill-fated Mrs. O'Leary, mother of two of the protagonists. Don Ameche also gives a rich, rounded performance as Power's straightarrow brother, and Andy Devine adds some comic grace notes while Rondo Hatton -- with some lines of dialogue, no less -- is hanging about in the background adding menace to the proceedings. And even seven decades later, it seems as though no expense was spared on the climactic fire or the depiction of its aftermath, which is as impressive a screen spectacle as anything seen before Gone With the Wind's burning of Atlanta. Little of what we see is, strictly speaking, accurate or real -- certainly in the drama -- but watching this movie even 70 years later, it sort of makes you wish the reality of life leading up to the Great Chicago Fire had been this much fun. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
William S. Darling - Art Director, Thomas K. Little - Art Director, Rudolph Sternad - Art Director, Kenneth MacGowan - Associate Producer, Lew Pollack - Costume Designer, Royer - Costume Designer, Robert Webb - First Assistant Director, Henry King - Director, Barbara McLean - Editor, Louis Silvers - Composer (Music Score), Louis Silvers - Musical Direction/Supervision, Sidney Clare - Songwriter, Mack Gordon - Songwriter, Harry Revel - Songwriter, J. Peverell Marley - Cinematographer, Darryl F. Zanuck - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Ralph Hammeras - Special Effects, Fred Sersen - Special Effects, Louis J. White - Special Effects, Eugene Grossman - Sound/Sound Designer, Roger Heman - Sound/Sound Designer, Niven Busch - Screenwriter, Sonya Levien - Screenwriter, Lamar Trotti - Screenwriter, Niven Busch - Short Story Author
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.[1]
^Parish, James Robert; Mank, Gregory W.; Stanke, Don E. (1978), The Hollywood Beauties, New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, p. 232, ISBN0-87000-412-3
