UNION STATION
US, 1950, 80 minutes, Black and white.
William Holden, Nancy Olsen, Lyle Bettger, Barry Fitzgerald, Jan Sterling.
Directed by Rudolph Mate.
Union Station is a brief crime thriller, the type of film popular around 1950, following the lead of such police thrillers as The Naked City.
William Holden was at the peak of his career and was to win an Oscar for Stalag 17 in 1953. He co-starred with Nancy Olsen in Sunset Boulevard and Force of Arms.
The film shows police procedure, is a film of the realistic style – with a merciless criminal played by Lyle Bettger.
The film was directed by Rudolph Matte, cinematographer for Carl Theodor Dreyer in Denmark in the 1920s who came to Hollywood and made a number of popular thrillers and action films. The kind of film that is now an episode of a television series.
1. The indications of the title for theme and genre? A piece of Americana as a thriller? A film about American police and their methods. the role of citizens for law and order?
2. What conventions of the thriller did the film use: kidnap, suspense, chase, shoot-out? How well?
3. The appropriateness of black and white photography, locations, realism?
4. The impact of the police work: dedication, the danger of being obsessed, of brutality? The right blend of toughness, skill, ingenuity? The risks and dangers,, concern for people? Did the film give an appropriate
presentation of police work?
5. Calhoun as hero, dedicated to his job, embodying his emotions? Was he a character for the film or just a type?
6, Joyce as heroine, a typist, the ordinary woman, the ordinary citizen contacting the police, her hostility towards the police. her prejudices, change of heart? The ordinary citizen prepared to run the risk of danger?
7, The Inspector and his job? His dedication, commonsense, memories of his family and wife? The Irish tone and the tough attitude?
8. How interesting was the kidnapping, the realism, the plan and its execution, the cruelty, the effect of the kidnapping of a blind girl, her terror? The inherent violence and risks?
9. Beacom as a villain, his motivation and greed, his tough ruthlessness, his subduing Gun and Vince, (their participation, risks, greed, deaths?) his relationship with Marge and her supporting of him, his brutality to
her and her telling the truth? The inevitability of his death?
10. How interesting a picture of police detection and follow-up, of decisions about life and tactics? What value are film like this? An illustrating the American genre of police drama?
