All Aboard Paramount Noir

Union Station (1950) Is Train-Stop Set Thrills

William Holden began reaping reward of Sunset Boulevard with this cop procedural about kidnapping of a blind girl and rush to locate her as panicked Lyle Bettger and gang blunder at collect of ransom. Procedurals were less noirish because we tended to stay with clean-cut lawdogs, Barry Fitzgerald, for instance, in reprise of his Naked City off-casting, and happily saves blarney here till fade. It's not fun seeing a blind girl jostled around by crooks, so thanks be again, there's not emphasis on that. Holden's detective is partnered with key witness Nancy Olson. They don't romance, which is as well, as that would have padded 81 minutes that didn't need more. Paramount built a partial Union Station for action setting, most of pic set there at variety of angle. Director Rudolph Maté should get more credit for brace of star vehicles he did after stepping out from behind cameras, but his passing in 1964 came before serious consideration was given to workmanlike and efficient helmsmen like himself. Among refreshing aspects of Union Station is police cheerfully engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct with suspects, girding to toss one in front of an on-comer train unless he talks. We'd get this to point of tiring from Dirty Harry and the 70's on, but Union Station came long before those diminishing returns set in, and is the more fun and memorable for it.