Themes: Kidnapping, Witnessing a Crime, Woman In Jeopardy
Main Cast: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger, Jan Sterling
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
Union Station is a tense crime thriller in the tradition of The Naked City that unfolds in Los Angeles. William Holden plays railroad worker Lt. William Calhoun. Calhoun goes into action when Lorna Murchison (Allene Roberts), the sightless daughter of millionaire Henry Murchison (Herbert Heyes), is kidnapped by ruthless Joe Beacon (Lyle Bettger). The abduction is witnessed by Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson), Murchison's secretary. Using the handful of clues provided by Joyce, Calhoun and his associate, Inspector Donnelly (Barry Fitzgerald) do their best to second-guess the kidnapper. The film's most harrowing scene finds Beacon abandoning the blind and helpless Lorna in a deserted car barn in the deepest recesses of the titular station. Jan Sterling co-stars as Marge, Beacon's conscience-stricken moll. Former cinematographer Rudolph Mate does a nice, neat job as director, seamlessly matching location shots with studio mockups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Union Station's screenplay keeps it from being a top notch police thriller, it's still an engrossing and suspenseful nail biter. The problem is the plot, which is fairly routine and which depends upon both sloppy police work and some coincidences that stretch credulity a bit too far. Having said that, Station is also fascinating and hard to tear yourself away from, even if you occasionally wince at some of its twists and turns. One of the most interesting things about Station is its stark viciousness. The villains, as might be expected, are ruthless and cruel (especially lead villain Lyle Bettger); but the police, while on the side of the "angels," can be every bit as ruthless and cynical. Director Rudolph Mate enjoys playing with this fact, creating a hard-as-steel picture that doesn't bother to question the morality involved but simply presents it as a fact and lets the viewer decide what he thinks of it. Mate does an excellent job throughout, but he truly shines in the big setpieces, such as the stockyard scene and the climactic electrified tunnel sequence. William Holden is in top form, bringing dimension to a role that could be one-note, and Nancy Olson is great as the voice of sanity and emotion. Despite its flaws, Station deserves to be seen. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Allene Roberts - Lorna Murchison; Herbert Heyes - Henry Murchison; Don Dunning - Gus Hadder; Fred Graff - Vince Marley; James Seay - Det. Eddie Shattuck; Parley Baer - Detective Gottschalk; Ralph Sanford - Detective Fay; Richard Karlan - Detective George Stein; Bigelow Sayre - Detective Ross; Charles Dayton - Howard Kettner; Jean Ruth - Pretty Girl; Paul Lees - Young Man Masher; Harry Hayden - Conductor Skelly; Eric Alden - Doctor; Trevor Bardette - Patrolman; Ralph Byrd - Priest; Robert Cornthwaite - Orderly; Edgar Dearing - Detective; Mike Pat Donovan - Watchman; Bob Easton - Hayseed; Dick Elliott - Employee; Laura Elliot - Clerk; Edith Evanson - Mrs. Willecombe; Al Ferguson - Detective; Byron Foulger - Horace; Jack Gargan - Police Stenographer; Sumner Getchell - Police Car Driver; Barbara Knudson - Clerk; George Lynn - Moreno; Mike Mahoney - Patrolman; Howard Mitchell - Detective; Ralph Montgomery - Con man; Charles Sherlock - Doctor; Queenie Smith - Landlady; Douglas Spencer - Stationmaster; Joe Warfield - Manny; Robert Wood - Patrolman; Clifton Young - Ambulance Driver; Gerry Ganzer - Clerk; Howard Negley - Conductor; Richard Barron - Halloran; Thomas E. Jackson - Detective; Jack Roberts - Freddie; Fred Zendar; Charmienne Harker - Clerk; Jerry James - Con man; Bill Meader - Projectionist; Hans Moebus - Charlie the chauffeur; Joe Recht - Messenger; John Crawford - Hackett; Isabel Cushin - Clerk; Bob Hoffman - Messenger; Bernard Szold - Counterman; Gil Warren - Doctor
Credit
Hans Dreier - Art Director, Earl Hedrick - Art Director, Mary Kay Dodson - Costume Designer, Rudolph Maté - Director, Ellsworth Hoagland - Editor, Irvin Talbot - Musical Direction/Supervision, Wally Westmore - Makeup, Daniel L. Fapp - Cinematographer, Jules Schermer - Producer, Ray Moyer - Set Designer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Gene Garvin - Sound/Sound Designer, Hugo Grenzbach - Sound/Sound Designer, Sydney Boehm - Screenwriter, Thomas Walsh - Short Story Author
In this police thriller that partly takes place in Los Angeles Union Station, a railway policeman, William Calhoun, is approached at work by an apprehensive passenger named Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson) who believes that two travelers aboard her train may have been up to no good.
Joyce is the secretary to a rich man named Henry Murchison (Herbert Hayes), whose blind daughter, Lorna, has been kidnapped and held for ransom. The railway station where Calhoun works has been chosen as the location to pay off the ransom. Calhoun and fellow cop Inspector Donnelly race against time to find the kidnappers and bring them to justice.
The film was based on Nightmare in Manhattan, an Edgar-winning novel by Thomas Walsh. Sidney Boehm's script for the film version was nominated for an Edgar in the screenplay category. Aside from changing the setting from New York City's Grand Central Station to Chicago's Union Station, and changing the kidnap victim from a little boy to a blind, teen-aged girl, the script was quite faithful to its source material.
William Holden and Nancy Olson also appeared in Sunset Boulevard the same year.
The staff at Variety magazine gave actor William Holden a good review, writing, "William Holden, while youthful in appearance to head up the railway policing department of a metropolitan terminal, is in good form."[3]
Channel 4's film review notes, "Despite the barely believable plot, the film has a real edge. Made in 1950, it obviously can't push to the extremes of Dirty Harry but it shares the same mean spirit. Maté capitalizes on the story's setting by using innocent passengers and the station's dramatic spaces to heighten the feverish atmosphere."[4]
Critic Jerry Renshaw lauded the film and wrote, "On the surface, Union Station is a fairly routine action film for 1950, with its high level of suspense, strong-arm police procedural tactics, and caper-film trappings. However, a definite noir outlook is belied by the fact that the police play as rough as the bad guys, blurring the lines of good and evil. Audiences are used to seeing Barry Fitzgerald as a kindly Irish priest in most roles; during the scene on the empty platform, though, Fitzgerald's Inspector Donnelly tells the cops in his most charming Father O'Flaherty voice, 'Make it look accidental.' That's one of the more chilling moments of noir, more suited to James Ellroy than Fifties Hollywood. Director Maté also helmed the classic D.O.A. in 1950.[5]
