Watch In Old Chicago For Free

Waste of time

Pretty Good

Beautiful, moving film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Copyright 24 February 1938 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Astor, 6 January 1938. U.S. release: 15 April 1938. Australian release: 19 May 1938. (The film lost money on initial release, despite huge publicity). 10,002 feet. 111 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Saloon owner marries singer so that she can't testify against him.NOTES: Alice Brady was voted Best Supporting Actress and Robert Webb carried off an award for Assistant Director. Number 6 on the Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics. Negative cost: $1,800,000 (of which well over a third was spent on the fire). Initial domestic rental gross: an extremely disappointing $1,500,000. Shooting commenced 14 June 1937. COMMENT: When San Francisco emerged as America's top-grossing picture of 1936, Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck was anxious to emulate MGM's success. He commissioned Niven Busch to write a story about the great Chicago fire of 1871 incorporating as many of San Francisco's plot lines as possible. Thus both stories center around a sympathetically roguish saloon-keeper in the city's red-light district who is restrained (and eventually brought to heel) by a blonde singer and a priest/friend/crusading brother. In "San Francisco", Clark Gable plays the rogue delightfully, but is less convincing as the regenerated Christian. Though outclassed by Gable's seemingly easy nonchalance and casually effective macho airs, Power gives the "In Old Chicago" rogue more than a game try. His laughter and childish glee in his own devious stratagems is especially endearing and what is more important, he is rather more convincing than Gable in his last-reel change-of-heart. Admittedly, he was handed reasonable lines, while Gable had to contend with some real stinkers. As the blonde catalyst, however, Jeanette MacDonald tends to make a more memorable impression than Alice Faye. Her role is larger and more vital to the course of the plot and she has a large number of scenes in which she is allowed to try her mettle with seasoned support players like Jack Holt and Jessie Ralph. And of course she has better songs, including cleverly edited excerpts from grand opera and the rousing title tune. Not only does Alice Faye make a late entrance, but she has few scenes without Tyrone Power. We have nothing against Power, but he has lots of other scenes as well. In addition, her songs are fewer, not so elaborately staged, and not so memorably tuneful. The best of them is the old stand-by, "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" in which she is strikingly costumed. Indeed her attractive gowns are certainly the equal of Miss MacDonald's.As the hero's friend/brother, Spencer Tracy has it all over poor Don Ameche who is a capable actor, but no match for the charismatic magnetism of Tracy. If San Francisco doesn't have a real villain, In Old Chicago provides one in the person of Gil Warren, played by that uneven actor, Brian Donlevy. Here, fortunately, he is at his most fascinatingly unscrupulous best. Supported by the legendary Rondo Hatton, he has some marvelously breathtaking scenes including an elaborate parade and supporters' convention which must rank among the most lavish and action-full ever staged by Hollywood. We also love the side-splitting scene in which, looking frantically disheveled, he attempts to extract information from Joe Twerp's stuttering clerk. And then there is In Old Chicago's Alice Brady. San Francisco offers nothing to match her performance, even though her "straight acting" is now robbed of its initial tour-de-force. (Alice Brady's usual roles were dotty mothers in the Billie Burke fashion.) All told, In Old Chicago can put up as interesting a group of character players (Spencer Charters, Andy Devine, Phyllis Brooks, Eddie Collins) as can San Francisco (Ted Healy, Al Shean, Jessie Ralph). In photography, sets, costumes and spectacle, the two are almost equal. Personally, I think "In Old Chicago" has a slight edge. Marley's photography has a remarkable depth of field which gives many of the images a three-dimensional quality. We are actually present in the teeming, muddy streets of Chicago, in the crowded saloons, in the sprawling convention hall. In direction, the two are evenly matched. Van Dyke has a vigorous, pacy style, but King has an eye for detail and drama that gives his best films (such as this) a quality that enables them to be enjoyed numerous times. Of course, both directors were helped out by experts, King rather more than Van Dyke. The thrilling chase between the carriage and the railway train at the beginning of In Old Chicago is Humberstone's, as is the entire final twenty minutes, Humberstone directing the main unit and the principal players as well as the special effects. However, Henry King himself staged the spectacular convention brawl as well as the dangerous fight between Power and Ameche in which only two falls were doubled. Both scripts have their share of witty dialogue. I especially liked Power's comment on Ameche's campaign speech. "I don't think he'll win. He looks too honest. People don't trust an honest politician." Both movies offer such first-class entertainment, so it comes down to a personal choice. Mine is "In Old Chicago" — secondly because it offers Power in one of the most convincing performances of his career (notice the clever insincerity in his voice as he proposes), and firstly because it has the charming, alluring, entrancing Alice Faye, the warmest and most captivating actress of the cinema — and she sings like an angel too!

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.

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