Load of rubbish!!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This film from 1950 is a highly entertaining police story where the police plot their strategy to outsmart the criminal as they tenaciously pursue him. The criminal is played by Lyle Bettger, who gives an excellent performance. Barry Fitzgerald once again plays the Irish cop with the twinkle in his eye. Barry Fitzgerald's acting seemed to define the stereotype of the Irish cop and he was by far the best of the lot. The sustained action, the excellent acting and on-location shooting still give this movie great entertainment value some 62 years later. William Holden, playing the lead, is convincing as the tough cop who develops a romantic interest in Nancy Olson, the secretary to the wealthy father of a blind girl who figures in the plot. The action is almost non-stop as the movie rolled along. The location of the movie is a question mark; some say New York, others Los Angeles. I took the location to be Chicago because of the elevated railway, the stockyards, and even a Union Station - although the one here was actually in Los Angeles. Regardless of location, this is a very good story and although dated, I would gladly watch it again.

No, I am not referring to the quality of the film. Merely the fact that the film is set in a fictional, non-place. Apparently the novel that served as the source material was set in New York City.The train carrying Nancy Olson's character was coming from "Westhampton," leading one to suspect New York. However, there is no "Union Station" in New York, and never was. The actual station we see is not a set, but is in fact Union Station in Los Angeles, opened only 10 years prior to this film being shot (although the railroad police station office above the main entrance behind the screen is fictional...that space is actually outside the building floating in mid- air). The station still looks remarkably the same today, if you would like to visit and relive this film. Apparently there are some elevated trains adjacent to this station in the film though, which rules out Los Angeles as the setting. Los Angeles never had any elevated trains (well until 2003, anyway). One of the crooks tries to get away on an elevated train, leading to a shootout in a cattle stockyard. Leads me to believe this sequence must have been shot in Chicago. The name of the city is never mentioned in the movie, I believe. The station opens directly on a crowded city street of brownstone buildings, played by a studio back lot. Also fictional, as Los Angeles Union Station was/is surrounded by parking lots and a large post office, not brownstones. There's also an intersection of "21st and Mulberry." New York has both a 21st Street and a Mulberry Street, but they do not intersect. I believe that the underground freight train depicted in the film (like glorified ore carts in a mine) did not exist either, and was a set built on a sound stage, but a similar system did exist...in Chicago.Anyway, all these pedantic matters aside, this is a really enjoyable film. It is a quite straightforward police procedural, and nobody is attempting to reinvent the wheel here. You might say that Holden's talents are wasted in what is ultimately a rather slight and simple (but satisfying) story, but Holden certainly does not embarrass himself, does not "talk down" to the audience or the material, and it does not feel like he is "slumming" here. Nancy Olson is satisfactory, nothing more. Barry Fitzgerald does his usual shtick, but is a comforting presence. We do get the typical noir look of the times, BUT, this is not a film noir as such, as the moral tone is straight black and white. No shades of gray here. The good guys are really good, and the bad guys are really bad. Yes, the good guys are unafraid to use violence to extract a confession, but they do so with no doubts, assured in the rightness of their goals, even if their methods are identical to the thugs they are pursuing. Sure, we in the audience may not be convinced that roughing up a goon and threatening to kill his ass by throwing him in front of a train barreling down the tracks is such a great move, but the cops in the film have no such questions.Railroad fans will really enjoy its glimpse of a great American railroad terminal in its prime. Film noir and crime drama fans will most likely like how the plot unfolds, even if there is no question how things will end: the bad guys lose and the good guys win, nobody getting killed but the bad guys, and the good guys suffering only minor, easily-recoverable injuries.

Everyone remembers William Holden for his two big-time and Oscar-nominated movies in 1950 -- "Sunset Boulevard" and "Born Yesterday." But ask anyone about Nancy Olson -- the heroine of "Union Station" who plays Holden's his-girl-Friday -- and see if you get more than a blank stare. How ironic then that she played Holden's love interest in "Sunset Boulevard" and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress."Union Station" takes place almost entirely in the titular Chicago train port and boasts a somewhat memorable finale set underneath the station, but the movie as a whole is forgettable. It's a disposable entry in the police procedural noirs that were so popular at the time, and spends a lot of its time explaining the logistics the Union Station security team follows in catching the kidnappers of a business tycoon's daughter.The film isn't very exciting, but it didn't exactly try my patience either, mostly because it's only 81 minutes long. Still, you can find a hundred other similar movies that are more worth your time.Grade: B-

Having had experience with crime prosecution and investigative work, I rate this movie very realistic--Holden does a customary superb performance, would like to see this movie viewed more frequently, and at more viewable times. It is interesting to see the depiction of Police activities in the pre-'Miranda' days--The Scenes of railroad travel, the 1950's era motor vehicles in the movie present a realistic view of how things were then--The very realistic progression of the cases solution, the suspenseful blending of the events all make the film a great pleasure to enjoy.Holden, as I remember his 'Stalag 17' performance is a constant magnet for entertaining viewing.Respectfully,Lou Turi, aka 'Kisco Kid 23'E-mail address-- [email protected]