Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

No, I am not referring to the quality of the film. Merely the fact that the film is set in a fictional, non-place. Apparently the novel that served as the source material was set in New York City.The train carrying Nancy Olson's character was coming from "Westhampton," leading one to suspect New York. However, there is no "Union Station" in New York, and never was. The actual station we see is not a set, but is in fact Union Station in Los Angeles, opened only 10 years prior to this film being shot (although the railroad police station office above the main entrance behind the screen is fictional...that space is actually outside the building floating in mid- air). The station still looks remarkably the same today, if you would like to visit and relive this film. Apparently there are some elevated trains adjacent to this station in the film though, which rules out Los Angeles as the setting. Los Angeles never had any elevated trains (well until 2003, anyway). One of the crooks tries to get away on an elevated train, leading to a shootout in a cattle stockyard. Leads me to believe this sequence must have been shot in Chicago. The name of the city is never mentioned in the movie, I believe. The station opens directly on a crowded city street of brownstone buildings, played by a studio back lot. Also fictional, as Los Angeles Union Station was/is surrounded by parking lots and a large post office, not brownstones. There's also an intersection of "21st and Mulberry." New York has both a 21st Street and a Mulberry Street, but they do not intersect. I believe that the underground freight train depicted in the film (like glorified ore carts in a mine) did not exist either, and was a set built on a sound stage, but a similar system did exist...in Chicago.Anyway, all these pedantic matters aside, this is a really enjoyable film. It is a quite straightforward police procedural, and nobody is attempting to reinvent the wheel here. You might say that Holden's talents are wasted in what is ultimately a rather slight and simple (but satisfying) story, but Holden certainly does not embarrass himself, does not "talk down" to the audience or the material, and it does not feel like he is "slumming" here. Nancy Olson is satisfactory, nothing more. Barry Fitzgerald does his usual shtick, but is a comforting presence. We do get the typical noir look of the times, BUT, this is not a film noir as such, as the moral tone is straight black and white. No shades of gray here. The good guys are really good, and the bad guys are really bad. Yes, the good guys are unafraid to use violence to extract a confession, but they do so with no doubts, assured in the rightness of their goals, even if their methods are identical to the thugs they are pursuing. Sure, we in the audience may not be convinced that roughing up a goon and threatening to kill his ass by throwing him in front of a train barreling down the tracks is such a great move, but the cops in the film have no such questions.Railroad fans will really enjoy its glimpse of a great American railroad terminal in its prime. Film noir and crime drama fans will most likely like how the plot unfolds, even if there is no question how things will end: the bad guys lose and the good guys win, nobody getting killed but the bad guys, and the good guys suffering only minor, easily-recoverable injuries.

I noticed that one of the other reviewers mentioned how he hated the kidnap victim, as she was very annoying. Yes, the kidnapped girl is annoying...very annoying. She screams and screams so much, I was hoping eventually that the bad guys shot her to shut her up!! Despite this, it's still a pretty good crime film.The film begins with a lady on a train (Nancy Olson) noticing a couple guys acting strangely. She alerts the conductor--who seems to think she's crazy. But she insists he contact the police who investigate. Eventually, they discover the lady is right--something IS amiss. It seems they are part of a gang that have kidnapped a rich man's blind daughter. And, it turns out their boss is very blood-thirsty and has no intention of letting the girl go free once he obtains the ransom. Can the good cop (William Holden) catch these big jerks before it's too late? The toughness of the plot and the villain make this a film worth seeing. I noticed another review that complained about the casting of Barry Fitzgerald as the cop heading the investigation. I thought her was fine and played a nearly identical role in "The Naked City"--so similar a person might mistakenly think "Union Station" is a sequel. It's not, but both are very good, taut crime dramas that are worth your time.

UNI0N STATION is classic film noir directed by Rudolph Matte. Gritty and suspenseful. Joyce Willecombe(Nancy Olson)is a private secretary, who boards a train back home to Chicago from visiting her boss Henry Murchison(Herbert Heyes). While on the train she observes a speeding car race to a small station and two suspicious looking men get out and board the train at opposite ends. On board these men act as strangers. Joyce happens to see a gun hidden in one man's coat and tries to alarm the conductor of the train. He can't help, but Lt. William Calhoun(William Holden)working at Union Station is called. It happens that the two men are part of a kidnapping scheme...the victim is the blind daughter of Joyce's employer. The young secretary feels guilty; but Calhoun and his boss, Inspector Donnelly(Barry Fitzgerald), insist that they will thwart the kidnapping and return Lorna Murchison(Allene Roberts)to her rich father. A lot of cat-and-mouse action and old fashion gunfire. Holden is cast perfectly and Miss Olson gets her share of screen time. Fitzgerald is fit as the calm and cool acting Irishman with the plan of action. The cast also includes: Lyle Bettger, Fred Graff, Don Dunning, Jan Sterling and Parley Baer.

Having had experience with crime prosecution and investigative work, I rate this movie very realistic--Holden does a customary superb performance, would like to see this movie viewed more frequently, and at more viewable times. It is interesting to see the depiction of Police activities in the pre-'Miranda' days--The Scenes of railroad travel, the 1950's era motor vehicles in the movie present a realistic view of how things were then--The very realistic progression of the cases solution, the suspenseful blending of the events all make the film a great pleasure to enjoy.Holden, as I remember his 'Stalag 17' performance is a constant magnet for entertaining viewing.Respectfully,Lou Turi, aka 'Kisco Kid 23'E-mail address-- luigi23@oh.rr.com