Irish-American prairie traveler Alice Brady (as Molly O'Leary) suffers tragically before arriving to settle in the somewhat hellish city of Chicago. Starting a successful laundry business, Ms. Brady raises three handsome sons to adulthood. In 1867, they are: rascally star Tyrone Power (as Dion), politically-minded Don Ameche (as jack) and boyish Tom Brown (as Bob). Gambling and dallying with pretty saloon singer Alice Faye (as Belle Fawcett), Mr. Power tests his mother's nerves..."In Old Chicago", Power sets out to put business rival Brian Donlevy (as Gil Warren) out of business, with help from high-pitched pal Andy Devine (as Pickle Bixby). The legendary cow owned by "Mrs. O'Leary" puts her kick into this dramatization. The silliness sets in after some pleasant opening scenes, with the romance and rivalry becoming increasingly tiresome. But do stay tuned for the Twentieth Century-Fox production team to fire up the screen during the apocalyptic ending.******* In Old Chicago (12/31/37) Henry King ~ Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Alice Brady, Don Ameche

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.

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.

Although it's not the same town,and not the same kind of disaster ,"in old Chicago" bears more than a distance resemblance with Van Dyke's "San Francisco" .Both works feature an actress/singer,Alice Faye in the former,Jeanette MacDonald in the latter and both feature songs aplenty:they are more various in Van Dyke's work,for McDonald had a higher range than Faye :she even sings Gounod's "Air des Bijoux" ."In old Chicago" has a rather interesting screenplay : Pat'O' Leary's death,before he reached the promise land ,reminds me of Mosis.The great fire makes me think of Roma and Nero;after all ,Jack wanted the Patch to be destroyed ;of course he did not start the fire(and anyway many historians think that Roma's fire was accidental too.) Both "San Francisco" and "in old Chicago" avoid all the clichés which would mar the seventies movie disasters so badly.No cardboard characters but men and women made of flesh and blood.My favorites scene is not even the spectacular one.It's the family's Irish square dance.