A FIRE THAT MADE HISTORY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22388, 29 April 1938, Page 5

A FIRE THAT MADE HISTORY

Striking Impression Made by “In Old Chicago**

At Preview-

It is not necessary to be an American to know the dramatic story of Mrs O’Leary’s cow, the unfortunate animal that kicked over a lamp in a backyard byre and started the. great fire of Chicago in 1871. But the cow will certainly gaiij a stronger hold on posterity through the splendidly produced .film, “In Old Chicago,” which will be shown shortly at the State Theatre. This'fire destroyed the growing city’s vice-centre, known as “The Patch,” burned down 1800 houses and' buildings, killed. many people, and paved the way for the terrible but cleansing agency of the flames for a cleaner and greater city of steel and stone. The fire is only the climax of a very fine story, ably produced and directed and intensely dramatic. The tale is based on the settlement of “The Patch” in Chicago by the Irish family of OXeary, their rise to wealth and power, and their downfall. The history of this family parallels the growth of the old Chicago, which, when the O’Learys arrived in 1854 by waggon from the west, was expanding with that crude vitality which must have characterised smaller New Zealand mining towns during the great rushes of 10 to 20 years later. This dramatising of the crude but vital ways of the pioneers gives the picture an added affinity with New Zealand. The older generation of our own towns still provides a link with the period of “In Old Chicago,” and there will be thousands who, seeing this talkie, will chuckle reminiscently over thehorse-cabs and landaus, the muddy,

Eot-holed 'main streets, the cafes’ and eer saloons, ,laces, and'• crinolines, and top-hatted, frock-coated, gentlemen of Chicago’s sixties and seventies. To recapture so faithfully the' spirit of those roaring days and give any talkie such historical authenticity was'.one .of. the most notable achievements of Hollywood, and critics everywhere who have jseen “In Old Chicago” appear to have agreed virtually “to a man” that the production is “one of the greatest works of .screen art ever presented.” That was the unsolicited judgment of one famous American critic.

v progressive lawyer iormer ;• the other- a pleasure aeekag and a naan of graft. The aims of the—two brothers- conflict, and end at their , conflict leads to an . incident which starts the great fire. The fire scenes are realistic enough, to >be terrifying. and impossible to describe'adequately in words.- There’ are, sequences which would make the-.timid close their eyes. “In Old Chicago,” it is safe to predict, will make local film history. No picturegoer who - wants to feel himself abreast of the great production triumphs of Hollywood should miss it; but it has an appeal for everyone, particularly for those who would like to refresh the dimming memories they must have of the roysterous but spacious, and often charming days of the -late years of the last century.

It must have been ah extremely difficult task to get together a band of actors and actresses who could be called on to cast off the new century so successfully and take flight into the now dim-atmosphere of those exciting and dramatic years. Possibly the greatest success of the production is in the fine work of these stars and lesser stars. Some stand out far above others—for instance. Alice Brady, who, as Mrs O’Leary, is the screen reincarnation of many a fine pioneer woman, who in the backblocks of New Zealand needed just as much courage to carry on as Mrs O’Leary did in “The Patch.” It would be ungenerous not to claim that Alice Brady carries away the laurels, but ungenerous too not to admit that such great stars as Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye appear , willingly to stand aside and give the fine old trouper her triumph. A pre-view such as this would not be the place to spoil much of the pleasure to be anticipated by giving a detailed account of the story of the O’Learys. Sufficient to say that, in their own words, they are Irish and "a strange 1 tribe.” One soon becomes

Alexander Korda recently had five new films running simultaneously fci the West End of London. They were “Paradise For Two,” starring Jack Hulbert and Patricia Ellis; “The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel.” with Barry Barnes and Sophie Stewart; “The Squeaker,” with Edmund Lowe and Ann Todd; "South Riding.” with Edna Best and Ralph Richardson, and “The Divorce of Lady X,” with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier. _ This is a record for any company, either American or English.

Madeleine Carroll, who has recently returned from Europe, is already at the studios of Walter Wanger, preparing her next role in the _picture aatitled “Tha Rivar to