In Old Chicago
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B+
Somehow over the years this little gem slipped through the
viewing cracks, but it’s a real pleasure to get to finally see the film in what
would appear to be a stellar edition. In Old Chicago is the fictional story
of the O’Leary Family that started the Great Fire of Chicago by mishap of a
cow, I am sure most remember the song.
The film stars some really great talents like Tyrone
Power, Alicia Faye, and one of my favorites Don Ameche. The film is also directed by Henry King, who
managed to be a successful silent film director, carried over his talents to
the ‘talkies’ and became a solid director onward who worked on many Fox
productions, including The Song of
Bernadette and Love is A
Many-Splendored Thing. It’s
apparent that most of his films became Academy nominated, but seldom people
talk about Henry King today.
Given the age of the film, it can be expected to have some
wear and tear, but Fox comes through once again by delivering the goods. The film actually is on both sides of the
disc with the theatrical version on one side and the ‘roadshow’ version on the
other. Even though it’s from 1937 you can
still see some of the money that spent into making the production of the 1871
fire in Chicago. In fact, this was one
of the most expensive films of its time costing nearly 2 million.
The high point of this release is without a doubt the two
presentations and some of the extras, while the low point will be the still
problematic picture quality. While
Fox’s efforts are certainly appreciated to restore this film, there is still
unfortunately a lot of softness and grain that will distract some viewers. The print is virtually free from major dirt
and debris distractions, but the softness is quite abundant. It would take a major restoration to fix
these problems and that would depend predominately on the sources that are
available and whether or not the original negative exists or if it was lost in
a fire in Chicago as well, just kidding.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is expectably just mediocre and also shows
age, but is acceptable.
The road show edition runs about an hour and 50 minutes as
opposed to the shortened theatrical version that runs about an hour and 35
minutes. I prefer the shorter version
in this case as it gets all of the main details together in a much more
cohesive and quick way. In my humble
opinion if you can tell the same story just as effectively without losing any
major plot or story development than make the film as short as possible. The only time I prefer directors or extended
cuts is when it actually helps the film, but both versions here are acceptable
for sure.
The only two extras aside from having both versions, is
the A&E Biography on Don Ameche that is fascinating the Movietone news that
has become a fixture on these Fox Studio Classics. Overall a good film with a decent enough DVD edition to pick up
if the price is right.
- Nate Goss
