Saturday, May 20, 2023

UNION STATION 1950 (OLIVE)

A fine film noir classic with a great cast.

A very sharp eyed woman named Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson) spots a man on a train with a gun and tries to alert railroad detectives about what she has seen.

Lt. Bill Calhoun (William Holden) takes the case and discovers that the mystery man is the head of a ring of criminals who have kidnapped a blind heiress named Lorna Murchison (Allene Roberts).

It soon becomes a race against time to find the kidnapper and stop him as they know he will kill Lorna, even if her father pays the huge ransom. The kidnapper, Joe Beacom (Lyle Bettger) will stop at nothing to get the ransom, and he proves it by killing everyone that was in on the crime as well as his girlfriend Marge (Jan Sterling).

Calhoun however will not give up his attempts to stop Beacom no matter what. The cat and mouse games continue until the final confrontation between Calhoun and Beacom in the tunnels beneath Union Station.

Rudolph Mate handles the directing chores very well and gives us a good, tight film. The rest of the cast includes Barry Fitzgerald, James Seay, Herbert Hayes, Fred Graff and Parley Baer.

If you're a noir fan you simply cannot miss this film. I gotta admit that Lyle Bettger steals the show. He is superb indeed.

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