Union Station (1950)

Union Station (1950), directed by Rudolph Maté.

When a woman spots suspicious characters on a train, she reports it and -- no good deed going unpunished -- gets wrapped up in a vicious kidnapping and ransom case.

This is a small crime thriller but a good one, emphasizing the seriousness and toughness of both the cops and the crooks. These were the good old days when you could take a suspect into the subway, beat the crap out of him and plausibly threaten to throw him onto the tracks.

I counted the shots fired from each revolver: six and you're empty! Isn't that amazing?

We have a small budding romance subplot but it doesn't interfere with the serious tone of the picture. William Holden and Nancy Olson were together in Sunset Blvd. (1950) the same year. Barry Fitzgerald does his patented Irish detective inspector role.

Set in Chicago but filmed in LA. Good use of real locations: stockyard, train station, underground tunnels. 81 minutes long.

Olive Films Blu-ray. Some of the images are good, but we have lots of brightness fluctuation, probably from the film source.