In Old Chicago (1937)

The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Lamar Trotti (screen play), Sonya Levien (screen play),

Stars:

Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche

Won 2 Oscars. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tyrone Power	...	Dion O'Leary
Alice Faye	...	Belle Fawcett
Don Ameche	...	Jack O'Leary
Alice Brady	...	Molly O'Leary
Andy Devine	...	Pickle Bixby
Brian Donlevy	...	Gil Warren
Phyllis Brooks	...	Ann Colby
Tom Brown	...	Bob O'Leary
Sidney Blackmer	...	General Phil Sheridan
Berton Churchill	...	Senator Colby
June Storey	...	Gretchen
Paul Hurst	...	Mitch
Tyler Brooke	...	Specialty Singer
J. Anthony Hughes	...	Patrick O'Leary
Gene Reynolds	...	Dion O'Leary as a Boy

Storyline

Story of the great fire of 1871. Fictional story of two sons of Mrs. O'Leary (the owner of the cow which started the fire), one a rogue (Power) the other a lawyer (Ameche). One of the most expensive films of its time ($1.8 million).

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Plot Keywords:

fire | cow | lawyer | brother | disaster | 

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Taglines:

The great American motion picture!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Chicago

Filming Locations:

Oakdale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Darryl F. Zanuck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 111 min (roadshow)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the DVD which includes the roadshow version (information given in the accompanying leaflet) Western Costumes didn't have enough costumes on hand to dress all the extras in the fire scenes and had to borrow proper period costumes from other costumiers across the country.

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Quotes

Dion O'Leary: We O'Learys are a strange tribe.

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Connections

Edited into Ahen senso (1943)

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Soundtracks

"Strolling with My Lady Love"
(1937) (uncredited)
Music by Lew Pollack
Lyrics by Sidney D. Mitchell
Written for the movie but not used

User Reviews

The Great Chicago Fire

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.