1950's "Union Station" offers a fascinating look at LA's famed title structure in its busy heyday, built in 1939. Time and travel have moved on over the years, but here the exact locale is deliberately unspecified, rather appearing to be New York or (especially) Chicago. In the wake of their previous teaming in "Sunset Blvd." William Holden and Nancy Olson play the investigator and the secretary who puts him on the trail of vicious kidnapper Lyle Bettger, holding a helpless blind girl (Allene Roberts) in exchange for $100,000 from her wealthy father (Herbert Heyes). Best of all is lovable Barry Fitzgerald as the veteran Inspector Donnelly, teaming nicely with Holden while showing an intentional disregard for suspects refusing to confess. In only his second film, Lyle Bettger shows why he became such a popular movie villain for two decades, in a truly terrifying characterization, while longtime veteran Robert Cornthwaite makes his screen debut in the emergency room, one line of dialogue with his back to the camera (soon to star in "The Thing from Another World"). In regards to its lone appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, paired with second feature "She Demons" (Jan 10 1970), that was the one season which saw adult oriented dramas and comedies as the first part of the weekly double bill, running 32 consecutive weeks before returning to the usual horror/sci fi format. It must be said that "Union Station" at least supplied its share of suspense for viewers that night, which no one can say for its notorious Richard Cunha co-feature!
Review of Union Station
