In Old Chicago

Henry King

BY Travis Mackenzie HooverPublished Jul 1, 2005

It would be easy to laugh at how old-fashioned this movie seems today. After all, it's got the sure-fire combo of two brothers, one (Tyrone Power) who grows up to run gambling operations and fix elections, while the other (Don Ameche) becomes a virtuous lawyer sworn to fight everything his brother represents. It's also got the hard-working momma who wants her boys to do right, a showgirl (Alice Faye) with a heart of gold, and the bustling city of Chicago just before the fire that nearly destroyed it. And it's got a big stamp on its forehead reading "entertainment," with absolutely nothing on its mind other than breezy, lavishly-mounted fun. But it's somehow less perfunctory than that description would suggest, more involving than one would expect and far less cynical than anything rolling out of today's blighted Hollywood dream factory. Though its Cecil B. DeMille morality is clearly more interested in Power's more photogenic side of the equation, it draws that side with a decent amount of broad-stroke vividness, as well as offering cleverly evasive ways of getting you to like it. The odd musical number by the charismatic Faye helps, and the climactic fire scenes are effective even by today's standards. It may trickle out of your ear five minutes after you've watched it but you'll have lost nothing and gained plenty of pleasure out of the unabashedly cornball experience. Offered in a flipper edition featuring both the shortened standard cut and extended "road show" version, the extras include an episode of A&E Biography on subject Don Ameche, and a gallery of newsreels featuring the film's premieres and other related footage. (Fox)



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