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Union Station Manufacturer: Olive Films List price: $24.95 20 new & used available from $15.48. |
| Studio: Olive Films Release Date: 07/27/2010 Run time: 81 minutes Rating: Nr |
Union Station
Customer Reviews / Union Station
| I love Willy Holden. If he ever comes back as a woman I'm going to stalk him/her untill he/she submits to my marriage proposal. Good movie. |
| "Union Station" is a post-War thriller revolving around a kidnapping plot, unique for the amount of time it spends in Chicago's Union Station. Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson), observes two men enter her train car in a hurry, one of them in possession of a gun. She reports the suspicious behavior to Lt. Bill Calhoun (William Holden), the police officer assigned to the train station in Chicago. It later becomes clear that the men whom Joyce observed have kidnapped the blind daughter of Joyce's employer, Mr. Murchison (Herbert Hayes), and are holding her for ransom. Joyce assists in identifying the men, and Lt. Calhoun and his superior Inspector Donnelly (Barry Fitzgerald) pursue the suspects in slim hopes of getting Lorna Murchison (Allene Roberts) back alive.
The plot doesn't make much sense. The opening sequence of Joyce on the train contributes little to the story except to maneuver Joyce into it. I suppose that Joyce is supposed to be the person the audience identifies with -down to earth, an average citizen with a strong sense of justice- but she just seems extraneous. The police assume that the kidnap victim is dead for no apparent reason. And they're not much better than thugs when they have a suspect in their hands. There is another superfluous sequence when Calhoun pursues a suspect on a street car. It seems that the writers wanted to include certain elements of suspense, romance, action, and Irish cops in the film, and pieced them together whatever way they could, sense notwithstanding. The mastermind of the kidnapping scheme is a cruel ex-con named Joe Beacom (Lyle Bettger). My interest picked up halfway through the film, when Joe got more screen time. Beacom and his platinum blond moll seem more interesting than their pursuers, but we see too little of them. Joe remarks that he can't understand why anyone would pay to have Lorna back; I was wondering the same thing. She's a squealy, hysterical young woman who inspires no sympathy. The quasi-heroine, Joyce, is equally unappealing, partly because she doesn't do anything, but also because she is rather homely. I kept thinking that it would be great to see William Holden and Lyle Bettger face off in a better movie. The print on the Olive Films 2010 DVD is a little grainy but has no major flaws and good sound. |
| The film's story line - the kidnapping of a blind girl with the kidnappers using the huge Chicago Union Railroad Station as the contact point for the distraught father and dropoff for the ransom. William Holden is the "boss cop" { Lt "Willie Calhoun} of the station who working with Barry Fitzgerald {Inspector Donnelly} are going to use their knowledge of the layout of the Station to trap the kidnappers when they try to pick up the $200,000 ransome. Nancy Olson {Joyce Willcombe} knows the victim, works for her father and by a very convienent almost improbable plot twist has put the police on-to the kidnapping even before the initial ransom note is even delivered to the father.There are some good episolds in the movie - the tracking and pursuit of one of the kidnappers on the Chicago elevated, the murder of a police officer by the boss kidnapper Lyle Bettger {Joe Beacom} who leaves his wounded mistress Jan Sterling {Marge Wrighter} pleading in the gutter as he speeds away and best of all - the casual brutality- slaps ,kicks, punches and death threats used by Calhoun and Donnelly and their squad playing "good cop, bad cop" to "extract" information from an underling in the bowells of Union Station that in 2010 would consitute a 5-10 million dollar lawsuit and cost a few police their jobs besides. Of course the underling spills his guts and probaly wet his pants in this circa 1950 routine police interrogation. How times have changed!! The best performances are by Lyle Bettger who is excellent as the boss kidnapper cold stare, steely voice and mocking the blind girl as he slaps her around when she wimpers too much and by Jan Sterling as a trashy floozy who has some sympathy for the victim but luvs Beacom while he treats her like dirt. Nancy Olson playing to type as a wide eyed innocent with "Backbone" gives her role some depth and is pretty good. HOWEVER, Barry Fitzgerald reprising his 1948 role from "The Naked City" is too cute / coy as the loveable shrewd Irish " Full of Blarney" Inspector. Allene Roberts as the kidnap victim {Lorna Murchison} is an unsympathetic and whiney victim. Rudolph Mate was a great cameraman but his direction of the movie is pedestrian and the final chase thru the station's underground service tunnels is ok but could have been much better - it's to slowly paced and does'nt have enough tension and falls kind of flat. BUT the film's most serious flaw is the miscasting of William Holden as the hardbitten cop - his performance lacks the hard edge, he's not cynical or tough enough to pull it off. A far better choice for this role would have been Paramount's other male "biggie" - Alan Ladd whose tough guy image, dry voice and laconic manner would have played nicely against Nancy Olson's exasperated innocence. I guess after the successful teaming of Holden and Olson in "Sunset Blvd" Paramount rushed them into this picture to capitilize on their prievous teaming. I wanted to like this movie much more than I did but its elements just did/nt quite jell. Still, I give it a 3 1/2 star rating and would recommend its purchase. |
| Very good Film Noir film. Fast action and good suspense.
William Holden and Barry Fritzgerald did a great job of acting in this film. Has to do with a kidnapping of a wealthy man's daughter. The picture quality is very good. Recommended. |
Union Station
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