cult film freak: WILLIAM HOLDEN AND SUSAN OLSEN RETURN FOR 'UNION STATION'

Written by James M. Tate / 7/19/2025 / No comments / action , allene roberts , barry fitzgerald , cop , fifties , film noir or melodrama , jan sterling , rudolph maté' , susan olsen , thriller , train , william holden

WILLIAM HOLDEN AND SUSAN OLSEN RETURN FOR 'UNION STATION'

7/19/2025 | No comment

Susan Olsen and William Holden in UNION STATION Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2

Cinematographer of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI turned DOA director Rudolph Maté's UNION STATION begins with a kind of Alfred Hitchcock premise of an innocent young lady who witnesses something wrong about a train passenger headed to the titular UNION STATION, that becomes central to not only a kidnapping thriller-plot, but provides the procedural location instead of a crowded police headquarters like most film noirs of this semi-hardboiled fashion...

Reunited with SUNSET BOULEVARD good girl Susan Olsen has STATION detective William Holden playing it safely gruff while bordering on kindhearted, so a potential romance can lurk underneath...

Jan Sterling and Allen Roberts in UNION STATION

There's a side-story involving gangster's moll Jan Sterling with Olsen's kidnapped blind sister Allene Roberts, that feels like a more pulpy kind of b-crimer yet peters out much too quickly since Sterling, combining narrowed eyed prowess with doe-eyed sympathy, has edgy potential...

Basically, UNION STATION packs several well-filmed action sequences expanding into the dark THIN MAN-style train tunnels and, while never meshing tightly enough for classic status or sinister enough for cult value, is more of a solidly-basic 80-minute programmer with just-enough to keep the viewer (and characters) intrigued.

Susan Olsen and William Holden in UNION STATION

From UNION STATION

Susan Olsen and William Holden in UNION STATION

Susan Olsen in UNION STATION

William Holden in UNION STATION

As shown in Coming to America in UNION STATION

William Holden, Susan Olsen and Barry Fitzgerald in UNION STATION

From UNION STATION

Susan Olsen in UNION STATION

Fred Graff in UNION STATION

From UNION STATION

Susan Olsen in UNION STATION with Allene Roberts

William Holden in UNION STATION

Susan Olsen in UNION STATION

Susan Olsen in UNION STATION with Herbert Heyes

William Holden and Barry Fitzgerald in UNION STATION

William Holden in UNION STATION

William Holden in UNION STATION with Susan Olsen

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Tags : action , allene roberts , barry fitzgerald , cop , fifties , film noir or melodrama , jan sterling , rudolph maté' , susan olsen , thriller , train , william holden

James M. Tate

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