Union Depot is a 1932 pre-code film directed by Alfred E. Green for Warner Brothers in 1932, based on an unpublished play by Joe Laurie Jr., Gene Fowler, and Douglas Durkin.
The film, an ensemble piece for the Warner Brother’s players, stars Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Blondell. Other featured performances by notable Warner Brothers contract players include Guy Kibbee, and Alan Hale, Sr., Frank McHugh, David Landau, and George Rosener.[1]
Plot
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. stars as a drifter who, through a series of chance encounters with other travelers in a large, fictitious Midwestern train station, becomes a “Gentleman for a Day” (the name under which the film was released in the United Kingdom). In the course of events, he befriends Joan Blondell, a broke and out-of-work chorus girl, desperate to raise train fare in order to escape the pursuit of a mad sexual deviate (Rosener), and comes into possession of a violin case full of cash stolen by Alan Hale, masquerading as a German musician.
Because it was produced prior to the rigid enforcement of the Motion Picture Product Code (the Hays Code), the film contains many topics that would, by 1934, have jeopardized the certificate of approval needed for the film to be shown in the United States. Some of these forbidden topics include:
• References to sexual perversion: In the movie, Joan Blondell’s character reads off-color stories to George Rosener, tacitly aware that it might incite him sexually.
• Treatment of Prostitution: Though Joan Blondell’s character stops short of selling her virtue, it is clear that she has “been around” and is willing to entertain the notion for the price of a train ticket. Despite this, her character emerges relatively unscathed, which was counter to the Hays Code notion that “sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of the crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin”.[2] Similarly, Douglas Fairbanks’ character, a thief, liar and someone who is obviously comfortable purchasing sexual services, is not punished, and in fact emerges as a hero.
Critical Reception
The picture launched its New York debut at the Winter Garden Theater, on January 14, 1932. The New York Times movie critic, Mordaunt Hall, characterized Union Depot as an “ingenious, rather than artistic” melodrama recalling the (then) play Grand Hotel. He noted that some of the dialogue was at times, unnecessarily “raw” and that Mr. Fairbanks appeared to have “taken a leaf from James Cagney’s book, judging by his talk and the way he slaps a girl’s face”. He also questioned the realism of a hobo speaking with Mr. Fairbanks’ excellent elocution.[3]
In addition to noting performances by Blondell and Fairbanks, Variety magazine also praised the "capital technique" employed in the series of brief scenes utilized at the beginning of the movie to establish the film's tongue-in-cheek attitude toward human (mis)behavior.[4]
Much attention has also been given to the construction of the lavish train depot station set in which most of the movie takes place. This set was subsequently used in future Warner Brothers movies.[5]
Cast
Chic . . . . . Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Ruth . . . . . Joan Blondell
Scrap Iron . . . . . Guy Kibbee
The Baron . . . . . Alan Hale
Bernardi . . . . . George Rosener
Little Boy . . . . . Dickie Moore
Welfare Worker . . . . . Ruth Hall
Waitress . . . . . Mae Madison
Mabel . . . . . Polly Walters
Kendall . . . . . David Landau
Actress on Train . . . . . Lillian Bond
The Drunk . . . . . Frank McHugh
A Ragged Urchin . . . . . Junior Coghlan
Society Woman . . . . . Dorothy Christy
Sadie . . . . . Adrienne Dore
Cafe Proprietress . . . . . Eulalie Jensen
Woman on Platform . . . . . Virginia Sale
Train Caller . . . . . George McFarlane
Parker . . . . . Earle Foxe
Daisy . . . . . Mary Doran
References
- ^ IMDB. Internet Movie Database, last accessed: May 13, 2008.
- ^ The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, reasons for Underlying General Principals, Section 1.(2)
- ^ New York Times, "Union Depot, All Aboard", January 15, 1932
- ^ Variety. Union Depot, film review, January 1, 1932. Last accessed: May 13, 2008.
- ^ Allmovie, last accessed on May 16, 2008
External links
