In Old Chicago

Released Jan 6, 1938

1h 35m

History

Drama

List

67%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1871 Chicago, honest lawyer Jack (Don Ameche) and his reckless saloon owner brother Dion (Tyrone Power) are two very different men attracted to the same beautiful singer, Belle (Alice Faye). Personally and professionally at odds, their relationship is tested as Jack becomes mayor of Chicago, while his brother becomes a leader in disreputable entertainments. Their conflict culminates in the Great Chicago Fire, started by a cow belonging to their mother, Mrs. O'Leary (Alice Brady).

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Variety Staff

Variety

As a film entertainment it is socko.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Time Out

With a star-filled cast and a fitful sense of drama, it's pretty much the same old recipe as the equivalent cycle of megabudget '70s exploiters, but the climactic conflagration is certainly worth the wait.

Jun 24, 2006

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New York Times

Mr. King's direction, occasionally, is inspired, and the photography has unusual style and dramatic impact.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 25, 2006

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Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

...quite a sociological punch, and a real Chicago flavor. Dirty politics, saloon gangs, slums, tricked elections, fake reform parties. Why old Chicago?

Apr 17, 2020

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Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

The sincerity of all the actors still surprises. [Full Review in Spanish]

Sep 3, 2019

Full Review

Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

Serious students of the cinema shouldn't miss In Old Chicago. Neither should ordinary folk who like excitement and spectacle and the fun of running after the fire reels.

Jul 22, 2019

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Blobbo X

Word "Lackluster" comes to mind. (Or is two words?) Either way...

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

Really wasn't expecting much for this due to the mediocre reviews for such an old film. I was expecting there to be a lot of stilted acting and out of place comedic characters; which was common for a film in that era. However, I thought this film really well structured with some great visual effects. The only letdown of the film was the final speech which was really odd and corny. The film's actors do a good job in their roles with Power and Ameche giving really good performances. The fight scenes were also well-choreographed for that time. The film was nominated for Best Picture in 1937 and, out of the nominees I've seen, was better than Dead End, Stage Door and The Awful Truth. Alice Brady won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress which I believe she deserved more than the other nominees (excluding Whitty whose performance I have not seen), just a bit better than Leeds in Stage Door. She gives pretty good dramatic performance, especially near the end of the film. Overall, an underrated classic with some great acting and special effects which should be seen more.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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steve d

I thought it really dragged.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

david l

In Old Chicago has some pretty good performances, some solid family drama and a memorable third act. It looks good, but it's very poorly assembled and awkwardly filled with musical numbers. It's a mess of a film that was pretty much a rip-off of better San Francisco.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Making a disaster movie like The Towering Inferno (1974) is one thing but it is another thing entirely to take a real life tragedy and turn it into popular entertainment for the masses. This film aims to do that for the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and tells it's tale with odd, folksy humor that tries to ease Depression era audiences into the idea that this family, despite all their foibles, are just like them. I do not tend to enjoy disaster films and this one feels like a precursor to the trashy blockbusters of the 1970s that relied on star-studded casts to make up for poor writing and a lack of distinctive characters. Considering the limited technical capabilities available to filmmakers at the time it is pretty obvious that the film does not have the benefit of dazzling special effects to patch over it's flaws. Molly O'Leary, Alice Brady, is widowed when her husband dies in a tragic accident and she is left as a single mother of three children. She supports them by opening a Laundromat with her son Jack, Don Ameche, becoming a successful lawyer and her other son Dion, Tyrone Power, turns to gambling and other illegal means. The two sons make different choices in terms of what type of women they want to pursue romantically with Dion chasing the sexually promiscuous showgirl Belle Fawcett, Alice Faye, and Jack romancing the lovely Gretchen O'Leary, June Storey. Dion sets up a saloon with the help of his new lover but Jack is morally opposed to the actions of his brother. Their mother stands by supporting Jack while trying desperately to try to save her other son from a life of crime and immorality. His downfall comes with his attraction to the wrong woman and a terrible disaster threatens to make all of the current concerns of the family not important. Brady won an Academy Award for her performance and when considering the mindset of Academy voters in the late 1930s it is not difficult to understand why as she plays a concerned but loving mother who supports her sons. I have to say that I am generally not a fan of this sort of performance as it seems like it is a piece of cake for most older character actresses, the type of performers the Academy love to reward in the supporting categories, to pull it off. This is not to say that she doesn't do exactly what is asked of her but there was nothing more there and when compared to other supporting performances of 1937 such as that of Andrea Leeds in Stage Door (1937) she could be accused of having little emotional depth. Her character also does not get all that much to do as the conflict between her sons takes up most of the film and even though she is shown to be the one to start the infamous fire I did not feel that we saw the story through her eyes. We spend the majority of our time concerned with a conflict between two sons, one is good and one is evil so there is no question who will prevail. It felt like a poor man's version of the much later East of Eden (1955) and a million other tales of two brothers coming to hate one another because of their moral differences. Ameche and Power are both low voltage performers so I could not buy into the idea that some burning rage exists in both of them that would drive them to attack each other verbally and physically. I was never that invested in either of them prevailing over the other and because Dion's primary ‘sin' is having relationships with women not considered respectable by 1930s standards I could not bring myself to feel moral outrage. This will likely be something that most modern viewers feel as they will have seen so many variations on this story that have done better and the class distinctions that existed then will seem less scandalous. The film is also unattractive to look at which means that it loses a lot of the appeal of a big, dumb, action epic as you cannot sit back and appreciate explosions or burning objects.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Henry King

Director

Tyrone Power

Dion O'Leary

Alice Faye

Belle Fawcett

Don Ameche

Jack O'Leary

Alice Brady

Molly O'Leary

Andy Devine

Pickle Bixby

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Synopsis

In 1871 Chicago, honest lawyer Jack (Don Ameche) and his reckless saloon owner brother Dion (Tyrone Power) are two very different men attracted to the same beautiful singer, Belle (Alice Faye). Personally and professionally at odds, their relationship is tested as Jack becomes mayor of Chicago, while his brother becomes a leader in disreputable entertainments. Their conflict culminates in the Great Chicago Fire, started by a cow belonging to their mother, Mrs. O'Leary (Alice Brady).

Director: Henry King
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 6, 1938, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 22, 2013
Runtime: 1h 35m

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