Union Station **** (1950, William Holden, Barry Fitzgerald, Nancy Olson, Lyle Bettger, Jan Sterling, Allene Roberts) – Classic Movie Review 12,079

Director Rudolph Maté’s suspenseful and entertaining 1950 black and white Paramount Pictures crime drama film noir thriller Union Station is adapted from Thomas Walsh’s Edgar-winning novel Nightmare in Manhattan, and stars William Holden, Barry Fitzgerald, Nancy Olson, Lyle Bettger, Jan Sterling, and Allene Roberts.

Joe Beacom (Lyle Bettger) abducts blind teenage girl Lorna Murchison (Allene Roberts) for the ransom, but tough young railway police department head Police Lieutenant Bill Calhoun (William Holden) has other ideas after being called in by suspicious secretary passenger Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson) worried about two men boarding her train. She sees one has a gun, and calls the train porter, who reluctantly agrees to message ahead to Bill Calhoun, who greets Joyce at the station, but the men escape.

Los Angeles Union Station stands in for Chicago’s Union Station as the atmospheric location for the pick-up point where Lorna’s dad and Joyce’s employer, wealthy Henry Murchison (Herbert Heyes), is ordered to stash the cash. Bill and his tough superior, local police Inspector Donnelly (Barry Fitzgerald), persuade a reluctant Murchison to accept their help while he pays the ransom.

Union Station is an all-action thriller with plenty of Fifties detail, rushing headlong to a frenzied climax, with an excellent chase down the municipal tunnel underneath the station as Beacom flees with a wounded Bill Calhoun in hot pursuit. Though there is a sharp script by Sidney Boehm, director Maté must take a lot of the credit for building up the tension and atmosphere, and keeping control of a busy movie with a lot going on in 80 minutes.

The performances are good too, particularly those of Holden and Fitzgerald, both actors abandoning their usual charm for their rough-diamond, unethical characters. Nancy Olson makes a very capable heroine, and also Lyle Bettger makes a splendidly menacing villain. There’s a surprisingly tough and cynical tone for the day, with Calhoun violent and intimidating, hitting a suspect and apparently ready to threaten chucking him under an oncoming train to gain information.

It is a slight shame about the sentimental wrap-up as Joyce notices Calhoun’s shoulder wound and that she has developed a mutual attraction to him, also noticed by Donnelly in twinkling Irish mode (cue final Irish jig music!). It was going really well till this, but you see how Paramount would want to send audiences home in a cosily satisfied state of mind after dragging them through film noir hell and showing them that their police heroes are so flawed. There’s also an odd scene of Calhoun and Donnelly bonding at the Inspector’s home, with a bit of religion thrown in too. These two scenes seem out of another movie, written by someone different.

The film plays as a precursor of The Taking of Pelham 123  and Dirty Harry.

Also in the cast are Herbert Heyes, Don Dunning, Fred Graff, James Seay, Parley Baer, Ralph Sanford, Richard Karlan, and Charles Dayton.

The script changes the novel’s setting from New York City’s Grand Central Station to Chicago’s Union Station and the kidnap victim from a little boy to a blind teenage girl. The Los Angeles Union Station is the actual filming location.

It was released on 4 October 1950.

Olson re-pairs with Holden after Sunset Boulevard.

Director Maté also helmed the film noir classic D. O. A. in 1950.

The cast are William Holden as Police Lieutenant Bill Calhoun, Nancy Olson as Joyce Willecombe, Barry Fitzgerald as Inspector Donnelly, Lyle Bettger as Joe Beacom, Jan Sterling as Marge Wrighter, Allene Roberts as Lorna Murchison, Herbert Heyes as Henry L. Murchison, Don Dunning as Gus Hadder, Fred Graff as Vince Marley, James Seay as Detective Eddie Shattuck, Parley Baer as Detective Gottschalk, Ralph Sanford as Detective Fay, Richard Karlan as Detective George Stein, Bigelow Sayre as Detective Ross, Charles Dayton as Howard Kettner, Jean Ruth as Pretty Girl, John Crawford as Hackett, and George Lynn as Detective Moreno.

Nancy Olson (born on 14 July 1928) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Sunset Boulevard. She co-starred with William Holden in four films.

Allene Roberts died in Huntsville, Alabama, on 9 May 2019, aged 90.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,079

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com