Union Depot **** (1932, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Joan Blondell, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, George Rosener, Guy Kibbee) – Classic Movie Review 5699

Director Alfred E Green’s 1932 Warner Bros drama is a tastily mixed cocktail of assorted lives at a central railway station, among them gentleman-thief Chick Miller (Douglas Fairbanks Jr), stuck and stranded, out-of-work showgirl Ruth Collins (Joan Blondell), tramp Scrap Iron Scratch (Guy Kibbee), counterfeiter The Baron – aka Bushy Sloan (Alan Hale), over-boozy The Drunk (Frank McHugh), and sex-mad Dr Bernardi (George Rosener).

Warners were seeking to copy the Grand Hotel format, but they came up with something pretty grand of their own. Performances, screenplay and Green’s direction are all tip top, with plenty of Depression detail, local colour and pace.

Based on play by Joe Laurie Jr, Gene Fowler and Douglas Durkin, it is a real goodie.

It is written by Kenyon Nicholson and Walter DeLeon (screenplay), John Bright and Kubec Glasmon (dialogue), shot in black and white by Sol Polito, designed by Jack Okey, and music by Leo F Forbstein.

Also in the cast are Dickie Moore, Ruth Hall, Mae Madison, Polly Walters, David Landau, Lillian Bond, Junior Coghlan, Dorothy Christy, Virginia Sale, Earle Foxe and Edward Brophy.

It is also known as Gentleman for a Day.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5699

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