Love, music, humor, and spectacle have been carefully moulded together by Director Henry King in the making of "In Old Chicago," and the result, now showing in Boston at the Colonial Theatre, is a powerful, vivid, and entertaining motion picture. Starring the delectable Alice Faye, it is an interesting portrayal of Chicago in the seventies, and the climax--the great fire of 1871--is a worthy addition to the recent series of Hollywood excursions into the realm of spectacular catastrophe.

The fire is, of course, the center of interest. Without it, "In Old Chicago" would be a mildly entertaining tale of an enterprising Irish family, generously sprinkled with songs by Miss Faye and with first-fights between Don Ameche and Tyrone Power. As it is, however, the fire provides a brilliant climax to the human-interest story, and supplements the historical background with as vivid and absorbing a spectacle as has been filmed in many a day.

The theory that Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over an oil lantern, thus starting the fire, seems to be of dubious historical accuracy. Nevertheless, Twentieth Century-Fox is privileged to rewrite history in the interests of drama, and drama it surely is which the film provides once the fateful lantern is upset. Streets are mobbed with frantic people; flames roar through the tightly-packed slums, ignite a gas tower, stampede the stock yards, and drive the whole South side into the Chicago River.

For over fifteen minutes the fire rages on the screen, and when it is over the audience is exhausted from the emotional experience it has undergone.

Throughout the picture the acting is excellent. Miss Faye is enchanting as Belle Fawcett, a sort of nineteenth century chorus girl. Mr. Power is surprisingly modern and very real as a combination politician and saloon-keeper, and Mr. Ameche, in a simpler part, is satisfactory. "In Old Chicago" is well acted, masterfully directed, and provides first-rate entertainment.