In Old Chicago – 1937
How do I describe this film? Well, watch the 1936 Best Picture Nominee San Francisco and you have seen In Old Chicago. I would say that it was about 85% the same film. It had a few notable deviations but had a very similar plot.
Here it is, in a nutshell. There is a wealthy but corrupt business man who owns a saloon. He finds a star singer in a competitor’s saloon and steals her for his own show. The business man and the singer become involved in a rocky romantic relationship. He begins to dabble in politics to further his corrupt endeavors. She leaves him just before a huge catastrophe occurs which destroys the city. The disaster makes the two realize just how important they are to each other. The end.
That description could apply to both films very easily. But, I don’t want this review to be a long comparison between the two movies. Instead, I want to focus on how this was a good film, able to stand on its own two feet. In Old Chicago takes place in 1871, the year of the great fire. It starred Alice Brady as Molly, the mother of the O’Leary family. She was the stereotypical Irish mother who had the distinction of owning the infamous cow who allegedly started the great Chicago Fire.
Tyrone Power as Dion (pronounced as Die-on) O’Leary, played the corrupt saloon owner. He had two brothers, but the important one, Jack, was played by Don Ameche. He was a lawyer whose professional career was starting to take off. But corrupt Dion manipulates him into entering politics to achieve his own goals. However, Jack is a good man who, when elected as the Mayor of Chicago, strives to use his position to actually improve the city. This leads to conflict between the two brothers.
And finally, we get to the woman who Dion falls for. She was actually the best part of the film. She was gorgeous and had a beautiful alto singing voice. Alice Faye played the part of Belle Fawcett and she did a fantastic job. She was believable and honest in her performance. What was fascinating about the character of Belle was that she knew about Dion’s criminal behavior and actually helped him at times. In fact she only left him when he ended up betraying her to get what he wanted.
The plot was believable as it stood and the actors did a fine job. But as is usually the case when a movie depicts a historical event, I had to do a little research and find out how true to life the film makers were. I the case of In Old Chicago, I’m sorry to say, not very. But there were a few things that did stand as true.
First, the fire did start in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. But it was not started by a cow knocking over a lantern. True, that was a rumor which started while the fire was still burning, but in 1893, the man who started that rumor actually retracted his statement and Mrs. O’Leary was exonerated. Nobody really knows how the fire started and many theories exist, some of which sound pretty far-fetched. Whatever the cause, about two thirds of the city at that time was destroyed.
Second, the O’Leary family’s patriarch did not die in an accident with horses. On top of that, he and Catherine had only two children, not three: one boy and one girl. That son, James, was never Mayor of Chicago, but he did become successful as a gambler and saloon owner.
The big climax of the film, naturally, was the great fire. This was handled in a pretty spectacular fashion. In 1937, this was one of the most expensive films ever made. Director Henry King did an impressive job of spear-heading the whole thing. The fire was appropriately massive and ominous as it caught and grew with alarming rapidity.
But there was one thing which I felt he missed. He really shied away from showing any actual death, except for one, and even then, it was never actually shown. Jack’s death was handled as a dramatic plot point, making him a heroic and self-sacrificing figure. In truth, 300 people lost their lives in the conflagration. Not one of them was shown.
So what am I saying? The film was good… but not great. If not for Alice Faye, this would have been a very average movie, at least by today’s standards.