Tyrone Power

Alice Faye

Don Ameche

Alice Brady

Andy Devine

Brian Donlevy

Phyllis Brooks

Tom Brown

Sidney Blackmer

Berton Churchill

June Storey

Paul Hurst

Tyler Brooke

J. Anthony Hughes

Gene Reynolds

Bobs Watson

Billy Watson

Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Spencer Charters

Rondo Hatton

Thelma Manning

Ruth Gillette

Eddie Collins

Scotty Mattraw

Joe Twerp

Clarence Wilson

Frank Dae

Harry Stubbs

Joe King

Francis Ford

Bob Murphy

Wade Boteler

Gustav von Seyffertitz

Russell Hicks

Brooks Benedict

George Chandler

Bess Flowers

Vera Lewis

Bert Moorhouse

William H. O'Brien

Martin Turner

Lamar Trotti

Sonya Levien

Henry King

Niven Busch

Barbara McLean

Rudolph Sternad

Darryl F. Zanuck

Royer

Thomas Little

Robert D. Webb

William S. Darling

J. Peverell Marley

Louis Silvers

Kenneth Macgowan

Booth McCracken

Eugene Grossman

Roger Heman Sr.

Yakima Canutt

Drama

History

In Old Chicago

Darryl F. Zanuck Productions

20th Century Fox

United States of America

CinemaSerf

The two "O'Leary" brothers grow up without their father in an house where their widowed mother runs quite a successful laundry business. One son, "Jack" (Don Ameche), shows promise as a lawyer; the other "Dion" (Tyrone Power) is a more inventive sort of fella. After a few, quite entertaining wooing antics, the latter hooks up with visiting chanteuse "Belle" (Alice Faye) and together they start a business that rapidly expands so as to soon dominate the rather rundown "Patch" area of Chicago. The city government is riddled with corruption and so a group of civil libertarians nominate brother "Jack" to be mayor - a plan supported, for other reasons, by his now very wealthy sibling. It's only a matter of time before the two clash - but who will prevail? Power is charming and engaging here, he has a twinkle in his eye and there is certainly some chemistry between him and Faye. The ending, though impressive to watch with all the pyrotechnics of the Great Fire of 1871 that devoured thousands of the predominantly wooden structures of the area, is all a bit hurried and weak. The more interesting political and personal struggles between the two men, and agitator "Warren" (Brian Donlevy) should have featured more, with less emphasis on the initial character development and I could have done without the musical numbers that though ably enough performed by Faye, just sucked too much of the pace of this Cain and Abel style of story. Still, it's enjoyable to watch and gives us a hint at just how corruption and power-brokering functioned back then.

English