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.

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.

Many people are more familiar with Gone with the Wind than this movie when it came out 1 year earlier. From seeing this movie, I noticed certain common traits that both movie share. The epic Chicago fire of 1870 is shot on a very large scale with a cast of thousands. It rivals the burning of Atlanta from Gone with the Wind. The movie has a black woman worker for the main female lead in the film similar to Gone with the Wind. And the movie has probably the strongest speech at the end of the movie (by the O'Leary's mother character) that rivals the ending speech from Gone with the Wind. The movie concerns the O'Leary family who move to Chicago in search of new opportunities. A single mother and her three sons live and grow up in the city. One of the sons (Tyrone Power) meets and falls in love with Alice Faye. The plot and storyline of the movie is somewhat weak and could have used some revision to make the movie better. The movie's strong points are the shots of the Chicago streets, the staging of the Great Fire, and the large cow stampede scenes. This is one of the earlier disaster movie themes that took quite a lot of cast members and staging in order to execute the overall disaster event.

Along with "San Francisco" this is one of the first Hollywood "disaster" movies, establishing the genre where we get drawn into the characters lives for the first half-to three quarters of the film, and then watch the place explode/sink/burn in the final quarter. This Fox relic is actually pretty good, because it doesn't run too long, and director Henry King handles the personal drama as well as he does the Chicago Fire of 1871. Tyrone Power and Don Ameche are unlikely as Irish brothers, but are pleasant all the same as the likable rogue of the O'Leary clan (Power) and the idealist (Ameche). Power, along with his sweetheart showgirl Alice Faye, is making a monza from his saloon in the rough area of Chicago, but mayor Ameche wants it cleaned up. Cue human drama and political conflict, as well as romantic complications, as the smooth Power is willing to use Faye to his advantage in getting a better deal for himself. Faye was made a big star by this film but I don't really understand her appeal. She's not very attractive and her singing voice sounds strange. Alice Brady won Best Supporting Actress as Ma O'Leary and she's good, but the part isn't exactly challenging. Fox costume films never looked quite as sumptuous as MGM productions did in this period, due to budget constraints, but this one does a good job in capturing the feel of the era, even if most of the story is complete fiction