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Immortalized by Martha at the beginning of "Who's afraid of Virginia Wolff," "In Old Chicago" is a dramatization (you know, 20th Century Fox style) of the 1871 Chicago fire. As is fitting, it focuses on the owners of the cow that allegedly started it all, the O'Learys. Tyrone Power is the drop dead gorgeous, bad boy brother of good Don Ameche. "Little Miss Alice Faye," (as Martha says) plays Power's love interest, a dance hall girl.

All of the performances are good, the threesome of Power-Ameche-Faye being a great combination that works well here and in "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Faye gets to show off her voice, and she looks very pretty, having graduated from the days when Zanuck tried to make her look like Jean Harlow. The role was actually intended for Harlow, who died before she could do it; Gable was also supposed to be loaned out for the Power role. Power had only started with Fox a year earlier. Harlow's death killed the deal. Also in the film is Rondo Hatton, referred to by Power as "Rondo." Hatton suffered from acromegaly after laughing gas exposure in World War I. Standing side by side were a man who, due to disease, was deformed and ugly, and Power, perhaps the handsomest man in the world. More ironic yet, Power had no appreciation of his looks, feeling they kept him from roles he wanted.

The fire and devastation effects are fantastic, Fox no doubt feeling the "heat" from MGM's "San Francisco" earthquake scenes.

Alice Brady gives a strong performance, with a somewhat melodramatic monologue at the end. She won an Oscar, which was stolen by the person she sent to accept it. A lovely actress, it's a shame she died at the age of 47.

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")

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.

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.

The historical drama In Old Chicago is directed by Henry King and stars Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, and Don Ameche. The film takes place in 1870s Chicago.

The film starts out with a family heading to Chicago in 1854. On the way to Chicago the father decides to race a train after his children ask him to do so and he loses control of the cart and ends up badly injuring himself, so much so it leads to his death. When the remainder of the family enter Chicago two of the children accidentally dirty a woman's dress and the mother offers to clean it for her. The mother is so good as cleaning she starts a business and then it is cut to 1870. All the boys are grown up one is a lawyer, one is involved with gambling and other frowned on affairs, and the final one does not really have that much of a part so it doesn't matter. The son that is a lawyer, Jack (Ameche), is convinced to run for mayor and Dion (Power) is one of the heads of a somewhat crime organization. The two are rivals, but then the great fire starts burning...

The writing for this film is decent. It is an interesting concept having the two brothers pitted against each other, I like that part a lot. But every relationship involving a woman of romance just seemed so unnatural and forced. It was just like if anyone talked to a woman in a few minutes they would be in love. I liked towards the end everything that had to do with the fire, I thought that was very interesting and kept my attention. After the film ended though not much was very memorable.

Henry King's direction for this film was quite good. One shot in particular I liked was when it was in the bar and the camera dollied backwards and I saw all the bartenders serving beer to the large crowd of people. This shot was so much more efficient than just an overhead shot displaying the large amount of people because it felt like I was actually there. Also King directed everything with the fire brilliantly as well. He got solid performances from all his leads as well.

The editing for this film was equally as good as the direction. One thing I liked in particular was when the mother was washing the clothes and all the years passed by over her washing. I thought that was much smarter than just going to the next shot and putting 1870 on the bottom of the screen. Again with the fire scenes everything was edited perfectly, especially involving the special effects.

The acting was solid by most of the cast. I thought Tyrone Power played his part very well, he was likable even though his character was devious. I did think the parts where he was with any woman besides his mother were ridiculous, but that wasn't his fault it was the writers and director. Alice Faye did not give that great of a performance but I thought her role was somewhat useless so it was hard for her to be good. Don Ameche basically just read his lines and furrowed his brow during the whole film so nothing remarkable. Alice Brady won an Oscar for her role as the mother and she deserved it. She was basically a caring mother that did not want her sons to be running around and being with women who were not of class. She played the part perfectly and really could not have improved.

Overall I give this film a very weak 7/10. My main issue is that after the film I almost immediately forgot it but during the film it was quite an experience. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys historical dramas.

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)

There are some really great parts to In Old Chicago, and there are some really awful parts. Let's get the bad out of the way first: Alice Brady. Not only was it one of the great Oscar travesties for her to win Best Supporting Actress over Dame May Whitty in Night Must Fall, but her unemotional performance as the matriarch of a self-made, symbolic American family was so terrible, it was as if she was a stand-in reading the lines for the other actors' close-ups and someone accidentally filmed her instead. Remember Thomas Mitchell's "land" speech from Gone With the Wind? Alice Brady is given a similar speech to tell her children, but it's one of the most ineffective pep talks ever. It's hard to believe that's the take the studio chose to keep.

Speaking of Gone With the Wind, once you watch In Old Chicago, you won't be able to help being less enamored by the 1939 epic. The famed "burning of Atlanta" scene from Gone With the Wind is hardly impressive once you've seen In Old Chicago, whose plot culminates in the famous Chicago fire started by Alice Brady's cow. You'll have to wait a long time before the special effects are shown, but it is a very entertaining, tense sequence once it shows up.

What's the actual plot of this movie, if the cow doesn't kick over the lantern until the end? Alice and her husband, J. Anthony Hughes, and their young songs, Gene Reynolds and Bobs Watson, travel in a covered wagon to Chicago. J. Anthony dies, and Bobs is given his signature crying scene, and Alice is left to care for the family. She starts up a washing business, and her two sons grow up to become Tyrone Power and Don Ameche. Don is the honorable son with good moral character, and Ty is the scoundrel who steals Alice Faye's heart. While Don's heart breaks, Ty and notorious gangster Brian Donlevy get into a feud about rival nightclubs. That's certainly a lot to keep you occupied before the cow comes into play!

While this is a classic worth watching, for the special effects, and for Alice Faye's signature honky tonk singing, it's not the best movie to introduce you to Tyrone Power. This was the first movie I saw of his, and for ten years afterwards, I thought he was a terrible scoundrel. Start off with something where he's more likable, like The Mark of Zorro or The Long Gray Line. He plays a very good bad guy and you might not get it out of your mind.

Really, this feature is so close in content to the earlier 1936 disaster movie / musical melodrama smash hit "San Francisco" it could have been called "Oakland". Like "S.F." it concludes with a famous tragic disaster which decimates the city, featuring an extended spectacular special effects sequence and precedes that with a hokey story involving two feuding men, both rivals over ownership of the seedy but profitable entertainment part of town as well as a female nightclub singer, although thankfully this time not of the highbrow operatic style of Jeanette MacDonald, but in the more entertaining low-brow style of Alice Faye.

At least the film acknowledges the source of the fire as being caused by Mrs O'Leary's cow but then seeks to build its narrative around the whole family, starting with the sentimental sacrifice of Pa O'Leary just as he's leading his young family to a new life in the old town, the rise of Ma O'Leary's laundry business there and the rise to prominence by different means of her two ambitious sons, one, played by Tyrone Power, who is the shady risk-taker, the other, played by Don Ameche, the straight arrow lawyer and later mayor of the town. There is actually a non-entity third brother too who we briefly see ensconced with his Swedish wife (she complete with bangs in her hair and overdone accent just in case you didn't know) but the main story concerns the rivalry between the two older siblings, Power's ruthless ambition contrasted with Ameche's principled altruism, their relationship strained further when they separately cross swords with established gangster and nightclub owner Gil Warren played with Victorian panto-villain exaggeration by Brian Dunlevy.

To be fair, all this is very much grist to the mill, once the fateful cow kicks over the lantern in old Ma's barn setting off a conflagration which soon enflames the whole timber-built poor section of the city the men are feuding about and the SFX used are very effective indeed. Naturally the great fire creates tragedy for the central family but at least it serves to straighten up bad boy Tyrone as his old mum gets to her feet at the end to proclaim that the city will rise again, never mind that it was her negligence which saw it rased to the ground in the first place.

The backstory here is very hackneyed indeed despite the best efforts of an enthusiastic Power, Ameche and Faye, however, how Alice Brady got an Oscar for her terrible acting as the family matriarch is beyond my ken. Director Henry King certainly does a fine job of recreating the spectacle of the fire but before that his work is slapdash and slipshod.

A huge hit on original release it was probably a relief to cinema-goers that there were no other natural or man-made city-destroying disasters in recent American history for Hollywood to dramatise as this one, in the wake of the superior "San Francisco", certainly took the sub-genre down a notch or two in quality.

"In Old Chicago" is the best film the trio of leading actors: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, and Don Ameche, ever made. They made several movies together and this is their best. It has everything in it: love, musical numbers, hunger to succeed, business dealings, government corruption, personal deceit, and a fire to boot.

You can see on the faces of the trio of leading actors that they loved playing their roles. A special note on Alice Faye, she inherited the role after Jean Harlow's early death. The role was perfect for Alice Faye because she was a singer and dancer before making it in the movies. The strong supporting cast was headed by Brian Donlevy and Alice Brady, who deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance.

This is a good, old-fashioned movie featuring brotherly rivalry between Don Ameche's character and Tyrone Power's. Tyrone is the good-hearted scoundrel of the two -- his scenes with Alice Faye have pizzaz despite her not being half as gorgeous as her leading man. The scene where Tyrone ducks objects that Alice throws at him in anger, then wrestles her to the floor and bites her lower lip, is a must-see for Power admirers. The Chicago fire is portrayed so well, this movie won an award for special effects.

"In Old Chicago" was 20th Century Fox's answer to MGM's disaster epic San Francisco (1936)about the 1906 earthquake. Here we are treated with a mildly engaging story,which almost follows the same story line as the mentioned San Francisco,leading up to the 1871 Chicago fire. Compared with San Francisco this movie does not fare that well. Power in the lead role is no match for a Clark Gable at the top of his form.Alice Brady does a good job portraying the matriarch of the O'Leary clan.Brian Donlevy does his usual bad guy character which he did so well at this point of his career. When the fire finally begins we're treated to a fabulous depiction of this disaster.

This was a decent movie that was directed by Henry King and stars Tyrone Power and Don Ameche. This is a disaster movie about the 1871 Chicago fire that destroyed most of the city but this movie isn't as good as some of the other disaster movies at that time like "San Franisco" and "The Hurricane". The movie starts out with a family moving to Chicago and the father is killed on the way there. The mother gets a job as cleaner and Power grows up to become corrupt and makes his money illegally and Ameche becomes a lawyer. Power is rivals with Brian Donlevy and when Donlevy decides to run for mayor, Power gets Ameche to run also. It's not bad but there are some better disaster movies out there.

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

A fictional, semi-plausible story about Chicago's O'Leary clan precedes the main event ... the real-life Great Chicago Fire, which consumes the final twenty-five minutes of the film's plot. Mrs. O'Leary (Alice Brady) overlords her three grown sons who set up shop and endeavor to make names for themselves in the bustling city, in the 1867 to 1871 time period.

The plot focuses mostly on two of the sons: Jack (Don Ameche) who strives to be a lawyer in the conservative, moralist mode; and Dion (Tyrone Power), a conniving, dishonest opportunist and master manipulator. These two are at odds on most things, but as O'Learys, they sometimes manage to act as bonded brothers. The dialogue line: "We O'Learys are a strange tribe" recurs often. Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye) is the story's love interest. She's a glamorous, talented singer and showgirl who performs on-stage at the Senate, a high-priced show palace, complete with chandeliers and top hat wearing VIPs.

As we would expect for a film in the disaster genre, all this character hubbub contains lots of dialogue, and an underlying sense of doom, since viewers know ahead of time that the melodrama is getting ready to end, courtesy of Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

In point of fact, the idea that the fire began because a cow kicked over a lantern in a straw filled barn is patently false. However, the fire did indeed start in or near the O'Leary residence at 137 DeKoven Street which today, interestingly, houses the fire department's training school.

Almost all buildings plus sidewalks, at the time of the great fire, were made of highly flammable wood. There hadn't been rain in months. And a strong wind propelled the spread of the fire. Special effects for the fire sequence are quite good, given the era of filmmaking. There are lots of close-ups in this sequence, probably because the whole affair was filmed on studio back lots; there are a few long shots, but not many. Overall, the film's B&W photography is okay. But it seems grainy by today's standards.

My main complaint is that the film spends too much time on the O'Leary family melodrama, and not nearly enough time on the fire disaster. Would like to have seen the interior of the Senate as it burned. As I recall, all of the camera shots of the fire were exterior shots.

As a disaster film, "In Old Chicago" parallels the film "San Francisco", about the great 1906 earthquake. I think I like "San Francisco" better. But "In Old Chicago" is worth viewing, mostly for the final twenty-five minute fire disaster sequence.

It must have seemed like a no-brainer to make a film about the Great Chicago Fire. Unfortunately, no brains were used in developing the story that would climax with the fire. The story about sibling rivalry between the sons of Mrs. O'Leary, whose cow supposedly started the fire, is incredibly lame and dull. The melodramatic script is unbearably syrupy in handling the mother-son relationship on one hand while romanticizing sexual assault on the other hand. Power looks very handsome but is somewhat lackluster as the bad brother while Ameche has the thankless role of the good brother. Brady's thickly-accented performance is hardly Oscar-worthy. At least the fire is well filmed.

I thought it had a somewhat slow start that introduces us to the O'Learys that go against odds and move to Chicago for a better life only to have shortcomings on the way there and in the future. This is the best disaster flick about The Great Chicago in fact I think it's the only film about The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Hollywood don't you think it's about time now that you guys make another movie on this tragic, historical Chicago story, it could be the next Titanic and that one was fantastic and won a lot of awards. I thought the acting was great but the three stars that stand out to me were Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and the actress that played Mrs. O'Leary Alice Brady. The action effects were impressive to me especially for a movie made in 1938 that's more believable than most epic disaster flicks of today but the movie still needs to be updated and I'm surprised there hasn't been another movie about The Great Chicago Fire. The thing that bugs me the most about this film is that it focused too much on the O'Learys and not the history of the fire and the aftermath of it and how many people died, were left homeless etc. that is why someone needs to make another about it heck even surpass this film. Overall I liked it especially the last half which will amaze you but I'm still craving another much better version of The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. More of a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I love ALICE FAYE, TYRONE POWER and DON AMECHE when they have a good script, great tunes and wonderful direction--as in ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND.

But IN OLD CHICAGO is insufferable in terms of story, pacing, acting and any sense of reality until the O'Leary cow knocks over that lantern. Then we're treated to one of the best fire sequences ever shown on screen--long before the aid of computer technology. If only the rest of the picture had been able to match the fire! Faye is given some over-the-top costuming which cheapens her overall appearance to such an extent that it's hard to see why she's the main attraction for Ameche and Power. Power was still at the pretty boy stage of his good looks and his acting had not quite jelled when he did this role. The fight sequence between him and Ameche is well handled though. Ameche simply fades into the background as the good brother.

Faye was said to be pleased with the fact that she was given a more dramatic role for a change. Unfortunately, not much can be said with what she did with this opportunity. Alice Brady is up to the demands of her role as the O'Leary mother who wants her sons to make their mark in the world.

However, the film comes to life only for the final twenty minutes or so of fire. Otherwise, it's got a story as dull as dishwater and provides Alice Faye with one of her least appealing roles. It makes ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND look like a masterpiece. It takes much too long to get to that famous 1871 fire.