BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Petri Pelkonen This movie tells the story of the great fire in Chicago in 1871.It also tells about the O'Leary family and the feud between its two brothers.Henry King is the director of In Old Chicago (1937).It has a great cast.Tyrone Power is Dion O'Leary.Gene Reynolds plays his young version.Alice Faye plays Belle Fawcett.Don Ameche is Jack O'Leary.Billy Watson is his young version.Alice Brady portrays Mrs. Molly O'Leary.Phyllis Brooks plays Ann Colby.Andy Devine is Pickle Bixby.Brian Donlevy plays Gil Warren.Tom Brown is Bob O'Leary.His young version is played by Bobs Watson.Charles Lane is Booking Agent.This movie may not be the biggest classic, but it's fairly entertaining.It's at its best when the city fights against the flames.This movie is worth your time.

mdnobles19 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.

Supachewy 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.

MartinHafer In 1936, MGM made the huge and impressive "San Francisco". It starred Clark Gable and the singing sensation, Jeanette MacDonald and ended with an amazing earthquake sequence that brought down the crooked empire that Gable had spent the movie amassing. Here, in a totally different(?) film done just a year later, starring Tyrone Power (a prettier version of Clark Gable) and the singing sensation, Alice Faye and ending with an amazing fire sequence that brought down the crooked empire that Power and Brian Donlevy had spent the move amassing. In other words, this 20th Century-Fox film was essentially a knockoff of the original MGM film--and they barely disguised this by only waiting one year. The only major difference was that IN OLD CHICAGO is based on really, really bad history, as the whole "Mrs. O'Leary's cow" incident is complete hooey--as this never happened. Still, if you don't mind that it's a knockoff and you don't mind that it's a terrible history lesson, the film is moderately entertaining. Overall, a watchable time-passer and obvious knockoff.