Being a Chicago native myself, I’m almost attracted to any movie about the Second City just like a moth is attracted to… THE FLAME? EH?
One of the cute things about “In Old Chicago,” a Best Picture nominee from 1937, is that it’s constantly winking to the camera with jokes about how eventually everything is going to burn. The film documents the myth of the O’Leary family and the Great Chicago Fire, although not a shred of it is accurate to even the fabricated legend.
That’s all fine though, because Henry King’s film plays on Chicago’s legacy, corruption, style, mythology and undeniable allure. Tyrone Power and Don Ameche play two rival O’Leary brothers fighting for power in the city. Power is Dion, a rising star in Chicago’s “Patch,” the rugged, corrupt area of town where he’s opened a saloon right on the new trolley line and made a fortune. His brother Jack is an upstanding lawyer making no money, but his reputation precedes him and he ends up running for mayor against Dion’s business rival. Continue reading “Rapid Response: In Old Chicago”